High tension looms in Indonesia's Papua

At least eight people had died in a string of violence that overwhelming in Indonesia's mineral-rich easternmost province of Papua in the last two weeks following the prolonging massive strike carried out by workers of Freeport Mc Moran, a U.S. mining gold and copper firm operating in the province and an event that declared a state in the province by a separatist group. The freshest killing against a senior police officer in Mulia airport, Puncak Jaya regency on Monday was the last victim from the surge of violence in the province, allegedly perpetrated by members of separatist group in Papua. The ill-fated Mulia police chief Adj. Commr. Domingus Oktavianus Awes was killed by two people who ambushed Awes in Mulia airport amid his duty securing the airport. A spokesperson of Indonesian police headquarters Anton Bahrul Alam said that the attackers ambushed Awes, pushed him down on the airport's tarmac, taking his handgun and shot the regency police chief in the face. "One of them took the police's handgun and shot him in the nose and chest parts," Anton was quoted by a local media as saying. Citing to the witnesses' accounts, Anton said that the killers fled to the forest near the airport, brought along the police's handgun. "They were strongly suspected members of separatist group. The pursuit against them is now underway. The victim is now placed in a hospital for post mortem examination," Anton said