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hree policemen, including Pirime sub-precinct police chief Second Insp. Rofli Takubesi, were shot dead early Tuesday by a group of unidentified assailants in Lanny Jaya regency, Papua.

The two other fatalities were identified as Brig. Jefri Rumkorem and First Brig. Daniel Makuker, while a third officer — Brig. Muhammad Gosali — managed to save himself.

After shooting the victims, the assailants burned the victims’ bodies along with the sub-precinct police station and stole three police rifles.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian flew to the incident site immediately after receiving word of the attack. “I’ll check it,” Karnavian said shortly before his departure to Wamena, from where he would be transported overland to Pirime.

The Jakarta Post data shows that at least 10 security officers have been shot dead so far this year by unknown assailants in Papua.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rafli Amar confirmed the incident in Lanny Jaya, saying he did not yet know the motive of the attack. Boy said in Jakarta that the attackers were believed to consist of 10 people. Local police, with backup from the Indonesian Military (TNI), were still hunting down the perpetrators, he added.

Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya explained that the four police officers were on guard at the sub-precinct police station at the time of the attack. One of the three victims was found near a flagpole. “Possibly he was about to raise the red and white flag,” he said.

The rising frequency of violence in Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost province, by armed civilian groups is believed to be a reaction by local community members to the frustration of dealing with hardships in the underdeveloped but resource-rich area.

“The people are frustrated because there has been no significant progress in their humble lives. They hear about the huge development funds channeled from the central government, including those for special autonomy status, but they never feel the impacts,” said Father John Jonga, a Catholic priest at Hetuba Parish in Pegunungan Tengah.

People were also fed up with local government officials because they were rarely present amid their people, but spent most of their time in Jakarta or other big cities, said Jonga, who received the Yap Thiam Hien human rights award in 2010.

“In many talks with the local people, they say they do not know who their regent is, their district heads or their village heads,” Jonga said.

“I see regents and other high-ranking officials do not have the heart to carry out development. As soon as they are installed as officials, they forget about what they have to do for their people,” he said.

Jonga cited as examples how residents could not get adequate health services and how schools had been abandoned by their teachers. “With the situation never changing, the people become disappointed and express their emotions with violence,” he said.