Indonesia Security Forces Claim Suspected Papuan Rebel Killed in Shoot-Out

Indonesian riot police take positions as fresh unrest broke out in Indonesia's restive Papua region in provincial capital Jayapura on Sept. 23, 2019. (Faisal Narwawan/AFP via Getty Images)

Indonesia’s police said that a suspected West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) member had been killed in a shoot-out with a joint force of Indonesian military and police in Central Papua province on March 22.

The joint force carried out aerial surveillance after a motorcycle taxi driver was shot dead by a passenger believed to be a TPNPB soldier in Puncak’s Ilaga, Papua police spokesperson senior commander Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo said on March 23.

Prabowo said a firefight broke out when the joint force spotted a group of people carrying firearms, whom they suspected to be TPNPB members, traveling from Mundidok Village in Central Papua province.

“When monitoring through aerial observation, about 20 people were seen carrying two firearms. They were crossing from Mundidok towards Kimak. Then a firefight occurred,” he said, Indonesian media Jubi TV reported.

Prabowo said the security forces discovered the body of a suspected TPNPB member during a sweep of the firefight location, along with weapons and several other items.

There were no casualties or injuries among the security forces.

“The officers also found three units of 5.56-millimeter caliber, one 5.56-millimeter caliber ammunition casing, two noken (traditional woven bag), a motorcycle key, and two packs of cigarettes at the scene,” he added.

However, TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom said the separatist group was not involved in the incident and that the person Indonesia’s security forces claimed to have killed was not a TPNPB member, RNZ reported.

“A massive military operation is being carried out by the Indonesian military and police in Ilaga and other areas,” he said. “In this case, the Indonesian military and police claim to have killed TPNPB members, but their claim is not true.”

Riot in Papua

Indonesia has increased military operations in Papua province by deploying hundreds of troops after riots in the Jayawijaya district of Papua, which erupted in late February following reports of a child kidnapping.

Ten people were killed, and more than 20 others were wounded, including 18 police and military officers. Police said rioters burned shophouses and other buildings, set up roadblocks, and attacked vehicles.

Local police who had responded to a report about the kidnapping—which police later said was a hoax—were attacked with rocks and arrows.

Prabowo said that officers fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.

“The masses, who were increasingly anarchic, did not want to listen to the appeals from the officers. They did not want to disperse when they were given warning shots and even attacked the officers with arrows,” he said.

A man, identified as Philip Mehrtens, the New Zealand pilot who is said to be held hostage by a pro-independence group, stands among the separatist fighters in Indonesia's Papua region, in this undated picture released on Feb. 14, 2023. (The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB)/Handout via Reuters)

In another incident, a pilot from New Zealand was taken hostage by the TPNPB in early February. The Indonesian military said that community and religious leaders, along with the regional government, were working to secure the pilot’s release.

TPNPB has said the pilot, Philip Mehrtens, would not be released until the Indonesian government recognizes Papuan sovereignty. The group was classified as a terrorist group by the Indonesian government in 2021.

Conflicts between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common in the impoverished Papua region, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the mineral-rich region. Conflict in the region has risen in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces, and civilians killed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.