Separatists kill 8 technicians in Indonesia

JAYAPURA, Mar 04 (AP): Separatist gunmen killed eight technicians repairing a remote telecommunications tower in Indonesia's restive Papua province, authorities and the rebels said.

More than a dozen gunmen stormed Telkomsel's tower while the workers were fixing its transceiver Wednesday in the mountainous village of Beoga in Puncak district, which only can be reached by helicopter, Papua military spokesperson Col. Aqsha Erlangga said.

One technician managed to escape the attack and called for help through a video from a security camera at the tower that was monitored at the company's headquarters three hours later, Papua police spokesperson Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said. The survivor is waiting to be rescued at the scene, Kamal said.

An attempt to recover the bodies by helicopter Thursday was hampered by bad weather and heavy fog in the hilly district, a stronghold of separatists who have battled Indonesian rule in the impoverished region since the early 1960s.

"This is an extraordinary crime by the armed separatist criminal group amid the government's efforts to bring economic development," Erlangga said in a statement. He said police and the military were searching for the attackers, who authorities believe belong to the West Papua Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Organization.

Separately, about 15 members of an armed group attacked a military post in Dambet village in the same district on Thursday, injuring a soldier.

Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom confirmed the group's fighters carried out both attacks and said the group has warned all civilians to leave the areas claimed by the rebels as a "war zone" for years.