The pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, was allegedly shot dead by armed rebels on Monday after landing at an airstrip in Alama district in Central Papua province with four health workers and two children, all of whom survived, according to authorities. Conning, a pilot for air cargo transportation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, flew the helicopter from Mozes Kilangin Airport in Timika, also in Central Papua.

Conflict between security forces and armed groups has simmered for decades in the country’s easternmost region, which remains among the most impoverished despite its rich mineral deposits. But tensions have escalated considerably since 2018, with pro-independence armed groups mounting deadlier and more frequent attacks.

Human rights group Amnesty International Indonesia described the killing of Conning as “unlawful” and “a grave breach of humanitarian international laws”.

“It is imperative that those responsible for the unlawful killing are held accountable and that measures are taken to prevent such incidents in the future,” Amnesty Indonesia office executive director Usman Hamid said in a statement on Wednesday.

Read also: Amnesty calls for thorough probe into ‘unlawful killing’ of New Zealand pilot in Papua

The pilot's body was recovered from Alama and brought to a hospital in Timika for an autopsy, before being flown to Jakarta and later New Zealand.