8 Killed in Tribal Clashes in Indonesia

By Barrie | October 17th, 2007 | No Comments

Rival tribes armed with bows and arrows clashed Wednesday close to a U.S.-owned gold mine in Indonesia’s Papua region, killing eight people, a company official and media reports said. At least 19 others were injured in the fighting, The Jakarta Post and other media reported. Authorities in the remote region in eastern Indonesia were not immediately available for comment.

The fighting broke out in villages close to a giant gold and copper mine operated by Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Mine Inc, the reports and Freeport spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said.

The reports said a financial dispute triggered the violence between the tribes, which have a history of bad relations.

Pangaribuan said the fighting was unrelated to the company’s operations and production at the mine was not effected.

More than 120 police officers had been deployed to the area to try and bring the violence under control.

Papua, Indonesia’s poorest region, is 2,000 miles northeast of Jakarta.

Source: AP Reuters