Separatist gunmen attacked Indonesian military troops who have been deployed to rescue a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua province, leaving no less than six useless and about 30 lacking, officers stated Sunday.
Preliminary data from military studies stated there have been about 36 troopers at a submit within the hilly district of Nduga, when attackers from the West Papua Liberation Military, the armed wing of the Free Papua Motion, opened fireplace on Saturday.
At the least six died and 21 others fled into the jungle, in response to the navy studies seen by journalists. A navy spokesman confirmed just one useless. 9 troopers have been reportedly being held by the rebels.
Papua navy spokesperson Col. Herman Taryaman stated the troopers have been a part of a bunch that was trying to find Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a New Zealand pilot for the Indonesian aviation firm Susi Air who was kidnapped by the rebels in February.
He stated authorities have been trying to find about 30 troopers.
“It’s nonetheless unknown precisely what number of Indonesian military troops died and have been injured,” Taryaman stated. “We’re nonetheless looking out, however heavy rain, foggy climate and a scarcity of communication have hampered our search and evacuation efforts.”
First Adm. Julius Widjojono, the spokesperson for the Indonesian Nationwide Armed Forces, or TNI, instructed a information convention within the capital, Jakarta, that the search operation will probably be carried out “with most power.”
He stated the rebels confronted troops once they tried to comb an space near the place of the pilot and his abductors. The rebels shot a soldier who fell right into a 15-meter (49-foot) deep ravine, and launched a second assault whereas troops have been getting his physique out, Widjojono stated. He confirmed just one fatality thus far.
Insurgent spokesperson Sebby Sambom stated in an announcement that the group’s fighters carried out the assault in revenge for the killing of two rebels in a shootout with Indonesian safety forces final month. He stated no less than 9 members of Indonesia’s elite military power have been killed in Saturday’s assault.
Sambom urged Indonesia’s authorities to cease its navy operations in Papua. He additionally stated his group had provided to barter with each the Indonesian and New Zealand governments for the pilot they took hostage, however stated that they had not obtained a response.
“Indonesia’s authorities should cease its safety operation in Papua and be keen to barter with our leaders beneath the mediation of a impartial third social gathering from a United Nations company,” Sambom stated.
Widjojono stated the navy operations in Papua have been launched with a view to keep away from numerous casualties.
“TNI has by no means stepped again even as soon as in sustaining our territorial sovereignty,” Widjojono stated. “And that is being carried out persistently in Papua.”
The rebels in February stormed a single-engine aircraft shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro in distant Nduga district and kidnapped its pilot. The aircraft initially was scheduled to select up 15 development employees who had been constructing a well being heart after separatist rebels threatened to kill them.
Saturday’s preventing is the most recent in a sequence of violent incidents lately in Papua, a former Dutch colony within the western a part of New Guinea that’s ethnically and culturally distinct from a lot of Indonesia. Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian safety forces are widespread.
Papua was included into Indonesia in 1969, after a U.N.-sponsored poll that was extensively seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered within the area, which is split into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.
Insurgent assaults have spiked prior to now 12 months, with dozens of rebels, safety forces and civilians killed.