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TNI chief in Papua to ‘evaluate’ pilot rescue operation
Efforts to save the New Zealand-national pilot held by separatist rebels will intensify following Saturday’s shootout, a military spokesperson has said.
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New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens reads a statement prepared by an armed separatist group in Papua on March 10, 2023. (The Jakarta Post/Twitter)
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ndonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Yudo Margono arrived in Papua on Monday, senior military officers have said, following the first confirmed TNI death in a sensitive operation to rescue a foreigner taken hostage by armed rebels.
Indonesian security and military personnel have been deployed to the country’s easternmost region since rebels from the West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB) took New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens hostage after a routine flight to Papua’s Nduga regency some two months ago.
A string of attacks on aircraft has also occurred in the restive region since the Feb. 7 abduction, the latest involving a civilian airplane shot upon landing in Puncak regency, Central Papua, on Friday morning.
The high-stakes rescue operation, dubbed Peaceful Cartenz, took a turn for the worse over the weekend when a shootout broke out between the separatists and a squadron combing the dense and hilly jungle of Nduga’s Mugi-Mam area in search of the captured Susi Air pilot.
The TNI confirmed the death of first private Miftahul Arifin, who was shot after falling into a 15-meter ravine. Other soldiers attempting to evacuate him were reportedly pinned down by a flurry of rebel bullets. A spokesman for the TPNPB claimed responsibility for the attack and insisted more were killed.
Now the TNI says it has successfully located the hostage and that Yudo is in Papua to “evaluate” the operation as the military gathers troops to evacuate the squadron still trapped in the area.
“The position and condition of the personnel are now known. Some of the troops are already at the nearest position,” TNI spokesperson Rear Adm. Julius Widjojono told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
