"It's their right. Besides we're not asking for their help," Sutarto was quoted by Detikcom news portal as saying.

"The point is it's up to them whether to help or not," he added.

Unidentified gunmen last August fired more than 100 rounds at a convoy carrying employees of the US-owned Freeport copper and gold mine near Timika in Papua province. Two US teachers and an Indonesian colleague died and 12 others, most of them Americans, were wounded.

The House approved an amendment on Wednesday to deny Indonesia military assistance funds as part of a bill it passed to authorise State Department programs for the next two years.

With the amendment, the International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds would be withheld "until the Indonesian government decides to cooperate with US investigators and provide credible and honest answers about the attack," according to Republican Joel Hefley, who sponsored the measure.

US Federal Bureau of Investigation agents returned to Indonesia last month to resume their investigation into the killings.

Police in Papua have said that a witness linked Indonesian special forces soldiers to the killings. The military has blamed a group of separatist rebels.

The US administration halted most military contacts with Indonesia over the 1999 bloodshed in East Timor and says they will not be restored until soldiers are held to account for abuses.

The resumption of the IMET programme was proposed last August by visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell as a first step towards restoring some ties. Indonesia is seen as an important partner in Washington's war on terror.

But the Papua killings occurred just weeks afterwards.

US ambassador Ralph Boyce said last month that Indonesia's failure to hold its military to account for rights abuses is a "continuing concern" as it moves towards greater democracy.

WAR.WIRE