Hundreds leave Papua villages in separatist standoff

JAYAPURA - The Associated Press

Indonesian police on Nov. 20 said hundreds more people have left villages in easternmost Papua that were at the center of clashes with separatist.

It was the second evacuation from the region near the U.S.-owned Grasberg gold and copper mine in a week.

Papua police chief Boy Rafli Amar said that about 800 villagers were bused to the town of Timika and are being accommodated in a local hall.

Security forces appeared to gain the upper hand in the standoff with separatists on Friday and evacuated more than 340 people who were migrants from other regions.

Two people were killed in a security operation on Nov. 17.

Indonesia’s military said they were separatists while a spokesman for the National Liberation Army of West Papua said they were civilians.