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Indonesian soldier in shooting may have had fever

JAKARTA: The Indonesian military said on Wednesday that the army officer who killed 15 people in a shooting spree in Irian Jaya province was believed to be suffering from tropical malaria.

The officer, a second lieutenant, opened fire on a crowd of people at an airport hangar in the town of Timika on Monday. He killed 15 people, most of them soldiers, and wounded 13 in a two-hour shooting spree before he was shot in the legs.

"The second lieutenant, Sumorip, is now being treated in hospital in Jakarta until his wounds recover and he will face trial for the shooting," Irian Jaya military spokesman Captain Edi Sulistiadi.

"We believe that he was suffering from tropical malaria," he said.

Other military officials have said the illness could leave victims temporarily deranged.

Sulistiadi, speaking from Jayapura, the provincial capital of Irian Jaya, said the lieutenant was flown to Jakarta on Tuesday along with four people who were seriously wounded inm the shooting.

The spokesman declined to give other details, but said a team of military experts sent to Timika to investigate the killings were still in the town.-Reuter