Rebels kill multiple Indonesian Army soldiers sent to rescue pilot kidnapped in West Papua

The Indonesian Army soldiers deployed to rescue a captive New Zealand pilot were ambushed by the rebels in the island’s restive Papua province, leaving multiple personnel dead, and 30 reported missing.

While AP news agency, quoting a military official,claimed that nine soldiers were killed, the army, on the other hand, confirmed six casualties. Rebels, meanwhile, claimed that nine were killed, nine others were captured by them, and 21 fled into the jungle.

The Indonesian Army had sent 36 soldiers for Phillip Mehrtens, whowas kidnapped by the members of the West Papua Liberation Army—the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement—after he landed his Susi Air plane at a remote strip in the rebel held area of the country in February. His aircraft was later set on fire.

“It’s still unknown exactly how many Indonesian army troops died and were injured. We are still searching, but heavy rain, foggy weather and a lack of communication have hampered our search and evacuation efforts,” Papua military spokesperson Col Herman Taryaman said, according to AP news agency.

Addressing a press conference, the spokesperson for the Indonesian National Armed Forces, First Admiral Julius Widjojono, said the troops confronted the rebels when they were trying to comb an area close to the position of the pilot and his abductors.

The rebels opened fire and shot a soldier who fell into a 15-metre deep ravine, and then launched a second attack on troops who were trying to getthe fallen soldier's body out, Widjojono said.He assured that the troops will carry out the search operation “with maximum force”.

Rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom said in a statement that the group’s fighters carried out the attack in revenge for the killing of two rebels in a shootout with Indonesian security forces in March. He said at least nine members of Indonesia’s elite army force were killed in Saturday’s attack.

Saturday’s fighting is the latest in a series of violent incidents in recent years in Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forcesare common.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that waswidely seen as a sham. Since then a low-level insurgency has simmered in the region, which is divided into Papua and West Papua.

(With inputs from agencies)

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