JAKARTA (Reuters) – Separatists in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua have killed eight technicians working on fixing a telecommunications tower in a mountainous area, security officials and a spokesman for a rebel group said.
The attack is one of the most deadly in recent years in Papua, a resource-rich area that has seen a simmering separatist conflict since being incorporated into Indonesia in 1969.
Aqsha Erlangga, a military spokesman in Papua, said in a statement that armed groups had gunned down the eight people at the tower in the Puncak district and that one worker, who he said could be seen on CCTV pleading for help, survived.
Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the Free Papua Movement (OPM), a separatist group, was cited by media as saying members of the group conducted the attack and that civilians had been warned to stay clear of the area in anticipation of an attack.
Ahmad Musthofa Kamal, a police spokesman in Papua, told Kompas TV on Friday that five armed groups were believed to be behind the attack that took place in the early hours of Wednesday and that it was in retaliation for attacks by security forces.
“Perpetrators of terror act… whenever they want,” he said, adding that police had warned civilians about the risk of violence in the area and that bad weather was hampering efforts to retrieve the bodies.
In December 2018, the military wing of the OPM claimed responsibility for killing at least 16 construction workers and a soldier building a road in Nduga district.
The separatists said they viewed the construction workers as being members of the military and casualties of a war against the Indonesian government.
United Nations human rights experts this week called on Indonesia to hold an independent investigation into reports of “shocking abuses” targeting indigenous Papuans, including killings and enforced displacement. Indonesia rejected the call and said the Southeast Asian nation has already tackled the accusations.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Ed Davies)
