EXCHANGE OF FIRE BREAKS OUT IN PAPUA

Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia, March 23 (ANTARA) - Indonesian soldiers were involved in an exchange of fire with a group of separatists around Mulia district, Puncak Jaya regency, Papuan Province, on Monday evening.

The shoot out broke out after the armed secessionists intercepted a car of Yon 753 Nabire military compound on Monday at about 6.30 pm when it was returning to its base in Puncak Senyum area.

Thirteen soldiers led by First Lieutenant Syahputra got off the car in time to defend themselves, local resident and military sources told ANTARA.

"Last night's situation was terrifying we could clearly hear the shootings," a local resident said.

Asked about the incident, Chief of Puncak Jaya regency police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Alek Korwa said no civilians were hurt in the incident.

But the secessionists might have escaped into the hills in Mulia district.

Over the past decades, Indonesia has been fighting a minor separatist movement in Papua, the country's easternmost province.

Last January, a shooting incident occurred in the concession area of PT Freeport Indonesia (PT FI) in Timika, Mimika district, Papua, injuring nine people.

In the shoot out, four policemen and five civilians got injured, including an American expatriate and a South African, a relative of a PT DI employee, identified as Howard James Lochart, 59, and Sandra Wilson, 62.

In July 2009, an Australian was also killed in a similar incident in Timika.

In August 2002, two Americans and an Indonesian were killed after gunmen attacked a convoy of Freeport school teachers.***