U.S. agents leave Papua

A team of United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents has left Papua after questioning a number of witnesses in connection with the ambush in which three teachers, including two Americans, were killed in August 2002, The Jakarta Post reported.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Timbul Silaen said on Thursday that the FBI team had left the province three days ago.

"They have questioned a number of witnesses. None of those witnesses were military (TNI members)," he told The Jakarta Post, saying that the FBI agents were free to question witnesses.

Timbul, however, refused to go into any more details on the process of the investigation.

An FBI team of four investigators arrived in Indonesia earlier this month to investigate the bloody ambush. During the probe, they were accompanied by a National Police team led by Brig. Gen. Indarto.

A group of unidentified gunmen fired at two buses carrying copper and gold mining giant PT.Freeport Indonesia employees from the Tembagapura International School on Aug. 31 last year. Two American school teachers and one Indonesian were killed and 12 others wounded. PTFI)is a subsidiary of New Orleans based miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold.

An investigation by local police revealed earlier that some military personnel were involved in the killing but military leaders have consistently denied the suggestion, saying that it did not match with the facts found by the TNI's own investigation.(*)