Up to eight people were fatally shot and at least 19 wounded when a group of Indonesian soldiers allegedly attacked a village in the Papuan province of West Papua.
Locals in Honai Lama village in the Wamena subdistrict, near Jayawijaya, told the Jakarta Globe of the shootings. Initial reports said 1 man was killed and 7 people wounded, but West Papua Media has since reported 8 dead and 19 wounded.
“Those soldiers went berserk and destroyed and burned down villager houses, a church and a school. They also allegedly shot a resident named Eliamus Nyoman,” a member of the Papua Legislative Council, Nason Uti, said.
Camelia Pasandaran and Banjir Ambarit reporting for the Jakarta Globe said Eliamus died in the shootings yesterday while at least seven injured villagers were taken to hospital.
Just a day earlier, an angry mob attacked two TNI (Indonesian military) soldiers riding a motorcycle through the village after they allegedly almost hit a child on the street.
One soldier, First Private Sahlan was stabbed to death, while the other, Second Seargeant Pardede, was badly wounded and eventually transferred to a Jayapura hospital yesterday.
Nason said that the alleged attack at Honai Lama village might have been in retaliation for Sahlan’s death — he urged investigation into the incident.
Attack denied
“Why should they have taken revenge? There is legal process to settle such problems. The military command must take action against its members involved in the village attack,” Nason said.
But Infantry Colonel Ali Bogra, the spokesman of the Papua Military Command, denied that the attack on the village took place at all.
“I have not received any report on the incident. We’ve stationed our soldiers around the area; no one is wandering around,” Ali said.
“After yesterday’s incident, the situation is under control now. There are no other significant things happening.”
Papua Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, however, admitted that a civilian died in Honai Lama, although he said nothing of the soldiers’ alleged attack.
“A villager died after the TNI soldiers were attacked by a mob,” Paulus said.
He added the situation in Wamena was improving.
New light
In a separate incident, Jayapura police officers allegedly shot a drunk 20-year-old in the head after the man abused passing officers, a Papuan human rights activist said.
The activist’s comments cast a new light on a shooting that was originally denied by a police spokesman yesterday morning.
According to activist Ferry Marisan, Seus Tabuni, also known as Terius, was drunk at a stall on Sam Ratulangi Street near the University of Yapis at 8:15 am on Thursday when he shouted at two passing police officers.
The officers reportedly opened fire, Ferry said.
“I do not know what Seus said, but the police officers reportedly shot him in his leg,” he said.
Seus then ran toward the river, but was shot twice in the head, Ferry said.
Papua Police Adj. Sr. Commander Yohannes Nugroho confirmed the shooting, saying: “I’ve just got the report that members of Jayapura Police shot a civilian.”
No details
Papua Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw confirmed the shooting, but did not offer any details on what happened.
Eight people have been shot in the province of Papua since Monday, including six in the provincial capital.
The recent surge in violence has prompted lawmakers to plan a visit to the restive province where indigenous Papuan demands for independence have been long-standing.
Source: Jakarta Globe
Video/later report by West Papua Media
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
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