Indonesian forces prepare to storm rebel-held villages

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian security forces in the eastern province of Papua are preparing to storm five villages that they say are being held by an armed rebel group, police officials said on Saturday.

Around 200 police and military personnel have been deployed and are awaiting orders to secure the area, where an armed separatist group linked to the Free Papua Movement is preventing about 1,000 people from leaving an area near a giant copper mine, operated by the American miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

“Today the joint police and military forces have occupied various posts to be able to take action,” said Papua police spokesman Suryadi Diaz.

“They will be taken dead or alive,” he said of the around 100 rebels that police say have tortured and abused the villagers since taking over the area several days ago.

A state of emergency has been declared in the area and at least 300 additional security personnel have been deployed to the area of the province after a string of shootings since August 17 that killed one police officer and wounded six.

The rebel group, the West Papua National Liberation Army, on Friday denied occupying villages near the mine, but said it was “at war” with the police, military and Freeport.

Papua has had a long-running and sometimes violent separatist movement since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized UN-backed referendum in 1969.