Suspected bombs explode near Freeport mine

Two suspected bombs went off near a massive mine operated by PT Freeport Indonesia, a unit of U.S mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. in Papua province.

PT Freeport Indonesia's spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan confirmed the news saying that the accident happened in early Friday morning, but he refused to give further details until the police probe was complete.

"We can only say that the incident did not disturb our operations and there is no casualty," he said. "Things are running normally."

According to Tempointeracitve news portal, 19-strong anti-terror squad arrived in Timika in Papua at about 12:00 am local time from Jakarta following an overnight bomb attack.

Police sealed access to the explosion site. Local military commander Lt. Col. Trie Soeseno said the attackers, who remain unidentified, destroyed a security post at Mile 50 and then tried to blow up a bridge at Mile 38, but to no avail.

"It's true there were explosions, but they caused no significant damages. The perpetrators used stove heating system to explode the bridge," Trie said. (godang)