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At least one killed in Papua gunfight
A joint military/police task force and a Papuan news website are issuing conflicting reports over the numbers and ages of civilians killed and injured in a gunfight on Tuesday. The task force claims to have killed one 18-year-old male, but the website is reporting that two males, a 12-year-old and a 51-year-old, were shot dead.
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Personnel of the Papua Police’s Mobile Brigade and of the Indonesian Military work together on a mission in Papua. (Courtesy of the Papua Police/File)
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t least one person -- but possibly two -- was killed in a gunfight between Indonesian security personnel and a number of Papuans aged 11 to 30, whom the security personnel described as members of an armed criminal group, in the regency of Intan Jaya, Papua, early on Tuesday.
The gunfight that took place at 7:20 a.m. on Tuesday around the residential areas of Gulanggama kampung and the Japaro complex also apparently left an adult and a child with bullet wounds.
“The incidence occurred when a joint law enforcement task force [Satgas Gakkum] of the Indonesian Military and National Police was conducting a patrol. They saw members of a separatist criminal group around Gulanggama kampung carrying two firearms,” XVII/Cendrawasih Regional Military Command spokesman Col. Eko Daryanto said in a press statement on Wednesday.
When the security personnel spotted the armed adults and children, they quickly gave chase. Eventually, the security personnel and the civilians began shooting at each other. Afterwards, the surviving adults and children fled into a valley and forested area in the direction of Ugimba, another settlement in the regency.
After the gunfight, the security team explored the location.
“When checking the site, the security personnel found a dead body, which was later identified as Meki Tipagau,” Eko said, adding that he had been about 18 years old.
The military spokesman claimed the security personnel had to shoot Meki because he had been holding one of the firearms.
