Speaking in a press conference on Friday, Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Fakhiri claimed that the situation had been brought “under control”, adding that a team of the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel had been dispatched to help restore security in the area.

"I have received a report saying that currently the situation in Wamena is gradually becoming more conducive. The Regional Leadership Communication Forum has taken joint steps to create a conducive situation and communicate with local community leaders,” Mathius said.

The riot started after locals, angered by rumors, started throwing rocks at Wamena Police station where a man accused of abducting a six-year-old was being detained. Police tried to mediate, Mathius said, but that failed to stem the violence and buildings were set ablaze in the area.

Security forces responded by opening fire to disperse the crowds, killing 10 and wounding 16 civilians and two members of the security forces. At least 13 residences were set on fire during the incident, Mathius added.

Mathius apologized and offered condolences for the deaths of the civilians.

“We will evaluate the steps taken by the police yesterday in the field. The developing situation took a turn and that led to an occurrence that we didn’t want to happen," Mathius said as quoted by Antara.

“The Jayawijaya Police chief was trying to save the [accused] man and had asked the community to resolve the issue at the police station. However, the crowd refused and stones and arrows were fired at the security forces as a result of incitement by certain people," Mathius said.

Amnesty International Indonesia (AII) condemned the deadly incident, saying that the security forces had been excessive in their use of force.

“Violence in any form cannot be justified. We call for a serious investigation into the incident [...] The perpetrators of the shooting, as well as those who committed the arson, need to be subject to a just and impartial legal process,” AII executive director Usman Hamid said in a statement.

Reject demand

Tensions have been running high in Papua, which is one of the poorest, most underdeveloped parts of the country, since separatist rebels abducted a New Zealand pilot on Feb. 7.

Speaking about the kidnapping, Mathius said the separatist group holding Philip Mehrtens hostage, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), had demanded the delivery of guns and ammunition in exchange for the release of the Susi Air pilot.

The police chief said authorities had rejected this demand.

"We have definitively rejected that demand," Mathius said, as quoted by Tempo, adding that the demand could further aggravate the security situation in the region.

Mathius noted that a team of negotiators was continuing to push for the release of Mehrtens, who was taken hostage in early February after landing in the remote region of Nduga.

"We need more time to secure the release of the Susi Air pilot so that we can do this without any loss of life," he said.

A local military commander in Papua said last week that a "law enforcement operation" was being prepared to free Mehrtens, but only as a last resort if negotiations failed.

A senior foreign ministry official in Jakarta said New Zealand diplomats had traveled to Papua to help in the effort to secure the release of Mehrtens.

Separatists have waged a low-level fight for independence since the resource-rich region, once governed by the Netherlands, was brought under Indonesian control following a United Nations-backed referendum in 1969.

Separatists say their fight is legitimate because former colonial power the Netherlands promised the region it could become independent before it was annexed by Indonesia in 1963.

More than a half a century later, rebels are still fighting the Indonesian Republic.

An estimated 500 fighters identify as members of the TPNPB, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).

Loosely organized and geographically fractured, the TPNPB lacks cohesion and a central leadership and command. Instead, units in different areas operate under individual commanders.

For years, the separatists mounted small attacks with minimal casualties but Egianus Kogoya, the rebel behind the kidnapping of the pilot, and his group opened a bloody new chapter in 2018 when they attacked a road-construction project killing 21 workers.

Indonesia launched a security crackdown in response, vowing to wipe out the rebels with hundreds of extra troops.

The violence forced thousands of villagers to flee, triggering a humanitarian crisis in which more than 160 people died of sickness and starvation. But in the rugged mountainous terrain, the security forces have so far failed to track down Kogoya and his men.