A soldier injures in exchange of fire in Papua

Exchange of fire in Papua

Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) – An Indonesian soldier suffered a gunshot injury in an exchange of fire with the armed criminal group in Puncak District of Papua.

“Yes, there was an exchange of fire on Saturday (Feb 13) evening. Private Maulana was hit by a ricocheted bullet on his nose,” Commander of the 173/PVB Military Command Brig.Gen Iwan Setiawan said in Jayapura on Sunday.

The soldier was in a stable condition and after receiving medical treatment in Ilaga Public Health Center (Puskesmas), he returned to his post.

Setiawan said, the gunfight  occurred when the soldiers returned to their post after checking the condition of camp and vehicle set on fire by the criminal group earlier on Wednesday (Feb 10).

Previously, Puncak Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Decky Saragih said the armed criminal group led by Lekagak Telenggen was allegedly set ablaze to camp and vehicles of PT Unggul.

On Tuesday (Feb 9), the group has also attacked security personnel who conducted crime scene investigation on the attack of a motorcyle-taxi driver Rusman Heidar.

“When they took the victim’s motorcycle on Tuesday (Feb 9), they were shot and there was an exchange of fire,” Saragih said.

The 40-year-old driver was reportedly stabbed in a street near Ilambet village in Ilaga sub-district, Puncak district, Papua. He sustained serious stab wounds on the back and died of exsanguination while trying to escape his attackers, said police.

Source of exchange of fire in Papua news: ANTARA NEWS

Notes:

Located on the western half of the island of New Guinea and long racked by a simmering violent separatist insurgency, Papua encompasses Indonesia’s two easternmost provinces.

A former Dutch colony, West Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after an undisputed vote of about 1,025 representative tribal leaders. The result of the plebiscite was overseen and endorsed by the United Nations.

Since the democratization in 1998, especially since 2007, democracy by mean of elections has been introduced to increase political participation in Papua and West Papua. The fact that the leaders of Papua and West Papua provinces are democratically elected by the people has strengthened the legality of West Papua as a province of Indonesia.