Papua separatist rebel leader killed in police raid

Jakarta - Indonesian authorities have shot and killed a leader of a separatist rebel group during a raid in the country's easternmost province of Papua, police and media reports said Wednesday. Kelly Kwalik, the commander of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), was shot in a raid by an anti-terror squad early Wednesday at one of his hideouts in Papua's Timika city, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

Papua police spokesman Agus Rianto was quoted as saying that Kwalik was shot in his left leg when he was trying to escape. Kwalik was also carrying a gun, he said.

Rianto said Kwalik died in Timika's Kuala Kencana hospital.

Police also arrested six other people in the house, including a woman and a child, Rianto told MetroTV, an Indonesian private television channel.

Kwalik was the most wanted separatist leader in Papua and accused of being behind a series of armed attacks against police and military forces in the province for years.

Authorities in Papua say Kwalik was responsible for attacks this year targeting US-based gold and copper mining operation PT Freeport Indonesia.

Last month, human rights group Amnesty International urged authorities to investigate allegations of police killings and human rights abuses in Papua.

In an open letter to Papua police chief Bekto Suprapto, the London-based organization alleged that police officers killed two men and beat dozens of demonstrators in custody since late last year.

The OPM, a small group of separatist rebels, has been waging a low-key rebellion in Papua since the early 1960s.

Papua, a predominantly ethnic Melanesian and Christian province, is a former Dutch colony that became an Indonesian province in 1964 after a vote involving tribal leaders many regarded as a sham.