Two Freeport contractors killed near Papua mine

Two contractors working for US company Freeport-McMoRan were found dead Monday near a giant gold-and-copper mine that has been hit by a strike and violence for months, AFP reported.

The latest victims, who were found dead in a vehicle owned by the US company, had apparently been shot, said Ramdani Sirait, spokesman for the company's local subsidiary, Freeport Indonesia.

"At about 9:15am local time this morning, we received a report of an incident involving a light vehicle which has fatally injured two contractor employees," Sirait said in an email to AFP.

"Initial reports indicate that the vehicle appears to have been fired upon," he added, confirming that the two workers had died.

Police, who have blamed "unidentified gunmen" for some of the shootings, did not immediately comment on the latest incident.

A Freeport employee at the scene said the vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, had been flipped over and burnt.

Ten people, all Indonesians so far have been killed around the mine in ambushes and in a clash with police since beginning of the strike that began in September at the company's Grasberg mine in restive Papua province. (*)