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Papua navy spokesperson Col. Herman Taryaman stated the troopers on the Mugi military submit had been a part of a gaggle deployed to search for Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a New Zealand pilot for the Indonesian aviation firm Susi Air who was kidnapped by the rebels in February.
He stated authorities are nonetheless looking for about 30 different troopers nonetheless lacking after the assault, together with 9 believed to be held by the rebels.
“It’s nonetheless unknown precisely what number of Indonesian military troops died and had been injured,” Taryaman stated. “We’re nonetheless looking out, however heavy rain, foggy climate and an absence of communication have hampered our search and evacuation efforts.”
An Indonesian military report circulating amongst journalists stated there have been about 36 troopers on the submit in Mugi Mam village when the separatists launched their assault with computerized weapons, killing not less than six troops and sending 21 others fleeing into the jungle. It stated 9 troopers had been being held by the rebels.
Insurgent spokesperson Sebby Sambom in a press release to The Related Press confirmed that the group’s fighters had carried out the assault, which he stated was in revenge for the killing of two rebels in a shootout with Indonesian safety forces final month.
He stated not less than 9 members of Indonesia’s elite military pressure had been killed in Saturday’s assault, which was led by the group’s commander Egianus Kogoya, and he urged Indonesia’s authorities to cease its navy operations in Papua.
Sambom additionally stated his group has provided a peace negotiation to each the Indonesian and New Zealand governments in reference to the pilot they took hostage, however stated they haven’t acquired a response.
“Indonesia’s authorities should cease its safety operation in Papua and be keen to barter with our leaders underneath the mediation of a impartial third social gathering from a United Nations company,” Sambom stated.
A bunch of separatist rebels led by Kogoya stormed a single-engine airplane in February shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro in distant Nduga district and kidnapped its pilot. The airplane initially was scheduled to choose up 15 development staff who had been constructing a well being heart in Paro after separatist rebels threatened to kill them.
Saturday’s shootout is the most recent in a collection of violent incidents lately in Papua, a former Dutch colony within the western a part of New Guinea that’s ethnically and culturally distinct from a lot of Indonesia. Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian safety forces are widespread.
Papua was integrated into Indonesia in 1969, after a U.N.-sponsored poll that was broadly seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered within the area, which is split into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.
Insurgent assaults have spiked prior to now yr, with dozens of rebels, safety forces and civilians killed.
Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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