Indonesian police have suspected eight of the twelve persons, whom were arrested on Wednesday night, in the killing of two American teachers in remote Papua province three years ago, a spokesman of the national police said here Friday.

The police have questioned nearly one hundred witnesses and confiscated a number of documents, that support the determination of the eight persons to suspect, national police deputy spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said.

"The eight persons were determined as suspects last night," Anton said, adding, " they could be threatened with death penalty when find their in guilty."

The twelve were arrested by Indonesian police with the assistance of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said.

The ties of Indonesia and the United States were strained after an ambush of convoy that killed two American teachers from a school run by PT Freeport Indonesia, in 2002.

PT Freeport Indonesia is a unit of U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc., which operates mines in Papua province.

The accident led to a block of military training aid by the U.S. congress in 2003.

The United States cut back military ties with Indonesia due to allegation that Indonesian troops violated gross human rights before and after the referendum in 1998.

The U.S. restored military ties in November with Indonesia as a reward for its assistance in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Source: Xinhua