JAYAPURA (AP) – Two Papuan separatist leaders were killed in a shootout between security forces and their rebel group near one of the world’s largest gold mines in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, police said on Sunday.
Clashes on Thursday between independence rebels of the Free Papua Movement and a joint police and military force near the mining town of Tembagapura in Central Papua province left two of the group’s regional commanders dead; Abubakar Kogoya, known as Abubakar Tabuni and Damianus Magay, commonly known as Natan Wanimbo.
Both were part of the West Papua Liberation Army, the group’s military wing. Rebels in Papua have been fighting a low-level insurgency since the early 1960s when Indonesia annexed the region. A United Nation (UN)-sponsored ballot, widely seen as a sham, incorporated the former Dutch colony into Indonesia leading to simmering insurgency ever since.
Security forces recognised the two commanders after finding their identity cards on them, said Faizal Ramadani, who headed the joint security force. He also said authorities showed the bodies of both men to other imprisoned members of the liberation army on Friday for further confirmation.
