T

he National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) called on local officials to speak out against the continuing violence in Papua.

'€œRegents and residents must renounce violence. Gun crime will prevail if they remain quiet. The community, police and the Indonesian Military [TNI] will end up as victims,'€ Komnas HAM Papua chapter head Frits Ramandey said in Jayapura on Wednesday.

Frits'€™ statement was in response to a shooting in Lanny Jaya, Pegunungan Papua, on Monday that left two police officers and a civilian dead.

He said regents, especially those in the mountainous regions, and the community must be firm and play their part in calling on armed groups to stop, as armed groups often used people as shields.

According to him, gun crime by armed civilian groups had occurred sporadically thus far, so officers should always be vigilant.

'€œIf officers are negligent in the line of duty there will be victims,'€ said Frits as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said the armed groups were constantly on the move as they sought to control particular areas. Thus, security personnel must change their approach pattern.

Another shooting incident, in Lanny Jaya, should serve as a reference for security personnel, he said.

'€œ[In light of this] the pattern of approach must be reevaluated,'€ he said.

Earlier shootings had been attributed to the Free Papua Movement (OPM), however, the police and the TNI have shied-away from using the term OPM and instead blame '€œarmed civilian groups'€.

Some analysts have blamed the shootings on police-TNI rivalry in Papua.

The death toll from gun crime in Papua is four in the month of July.

Kallo, a public minivan driver plying Wamena and Mulia, was shot and killed by members of an armed group in Tingginambut, Puncak Jaya, on July 16, and Nasito, 40, a ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver, was shot and killed by members of an armed group in Tiom, Lanny Jaya on July 17.

Monday'€™s incident in Lanny Jaya occurred when eight police officers were traveling to Maki village to provide community counseling.

First Brig. Zulkifli was shot in the head and the car kept going and fell into a ravine. Four leapt from the car and sustained injuries. Second Brig. Prayoga Ginuni was found dead during evacuation and two others were found wounded.

The assailants seized four police-issued firearms.

'€œThe firearms were likely tossed out of the car when it fell into the ravine,'€ said Papua Police chief spokesman Sr. Comr. Sulistyo Pudjo in Jayapura on Tuesday.

The incident occurred in an isolated area that has no cell phone signal, so it took as much as 45 minutes for help to arrive from the Pirime police.

Zulkifli and Prayoga'€™s bodies were evacuated to Jayapura and returned to their relatives, while the injured are being treated at Jayawijaya General Hospital in Wamena.