Rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua on Thursday shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian plane on fire in what a spokesperson for a local separatist group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments.
A low-level battle for independence from Indonesia has long raged in the resource-rich western half of Papua, where attacks by independence fighters have grown deadlier and more frequent as they have procured better weaponry.
Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), an armed separatist group, said that their troops shot dead American pilot Nicholas F. Gosselin and set his plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province.
He said the aircraft had been “frequently dropping Indonesian military personnel and violating the TPNPB’s ultimatum”.
Yusuf Sutejo, spokesman for Indonesia’s joint police-military operations in Papua, confirmed that a plane with an American pilot carrying seven passengers was found burned at a local airport in Yahukimo, but he could not confirm whether it had been attacked by rebels, or whether the pilot was killed. All the passengers were Papuans, he said.
The attack in the Balinggama district of Yahukimo was a message to the Indonesian and US governments for “failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papua National Liberation Army”, Sebby said.