SOLDIERS HUNT PAPUA REBELS OVER MASSACRE
Insurgents shot dead workers and slit throats of 6 who tried to escape
SOLDIERS yesterday hunted for rebels suspected of killing as many as 24 construction workers in restive Papua province, as an eyewitness account supplied by the military described a grisly mass execution.
The survivor’s account detailed the killing of at least 19 people, which if confirmed would mark the deadliest bout of violence in years to hit a region wracked by a low-level independence insurgency.
A Facebook account purportedly run by the National Liberation Army of West Papua said the armed group had killed 24 workers on the orders of regional commander Ekianus Kogoya.
Authorities have yet to confirm how many were killed in the weekend attack.
Yesterday, some 150 military personnel were focusing their operation on Nduga, a remote mountainous region where a state-owned contractor has been building bridges and roads to boost infrastructure.
Many Papuans view Indonesia as a colonial occupier and its building work as a way to exert more control over an impoverished region that shares a border with Papua New Guinea.
President Joko Widodo said he backed the hunt for those behind what he described as the “alleged assault”.
“I have ordered the chiefs of the military and national police to chase and arrest all the perpetrators of these barbaric and inhumane acts,” he said in Jakarta.
Police and military teams sent to the area on Monday came under rebel gunfire, with one soldier killed and another wounded in the firefight.
Four workers, including three suffering gunshot wounds, were among a dozen civilians who have been evacuated from the area.
Yesterday, the military supplied an account from one survivor identified by his initials “JA”, who claimed about 50 rebels entered the workers’ camp on Saturday and led them away with their hands tied behind their backs. The following day, the rebels shot dead a group of workers, while some tried to escape.
The attackers allegedly recaptured six workers and slit their throats, according to the uninjured witness, who said at least 19 employees had been killed in all.
Previous local media reports pegged the number of dead between 24 and 31.
The military has long been accused of rights abuses against Papua’s ethnic Melanesian population.
This weekend, about 500 activists, including an Australian, were arrested in a nationwide police crackdown that coincided with rallies on Dec 1, a date many Papuans consider their anniversary of independence from Dutch colonialists.
Papua declared itself an independent nation on that date in 1961, but neighbouring Indonesia took control of the region by force two years later.
It is unclear how the rebels are funded, but some of their arms flow in illegally from across the border in Papua New Guinea while others are snatched from military personnel.
In August, Pole Jakub Skrzypski was arrested in Papua over an alleged arms deal involving separatists and he could face life in prison if convicted. His trial date has not yet been set.