NZ man killed in rebel attack

JAYAPURA, Indonesia: A New Zealander was shot dead and two Indonesians were seriously wounded in an attack by separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua province, police said on Monday.

The shooting took place at an office of US-based mining company Freeport, which operates the Grasberg complex, the world’s biggest gold mine and a frequent flashpoint in Papua’s long-running insurgency.

The conflict has simmered since Jakarta took control of the mineral-rich region in the 1960s following a vote -- widely viewed as rigged -- to stay within the Indonesian archipelago. On Monday, rebels gunned down New Zealander Graeme Thomas Weal, 57, in an ambush that also seriously wounded two Indonesian colleagues at a Freeport office in Mimika regency, police said.