PNG Rebels Kill New Zealand Helicopter Pilot

Papua New Guinean rebels have stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot shortly after it landed in a remote mountain region.

Rebel Papua New Guinea Defense Force soldiers, with faces obscured, display an array of weapons taken from the armoury at Murray Barracks in Port Moresby, March 23, 2001. TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP via Getty Images

Several gunmen thought to be with the West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB)—the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement—have stormed a helicopter carrying health workers and two children as it landed in Alama, a remote village in Mimika district of Central Papua province on Monday. The area can only be accessed by helicopter.

They killed the pilot—New Zealander Glen Malcolm Conning, 50—but released the Indigenous Papuan passengers before setting fire to the plane with the body inside.