Pangkogabwilhan III Issues Ultimatum to OPM to Cease Crimes Against Humanity

Timika (ANTARA) - Commander of Joint Regional Defence Command III (Pangkogabwilhan III), Lieutenant General Lucky Avianto, has issued an ultimatum to the armed separatist group Free Papua Movement (OPM) to immediately cease their acts of terror and crimes against humanity in Papua. “Surrender yourselves and your weapons to the nearest TNI security post, before the TNI takes decisive action,” he stated in Timika on Monday. The ultimatum follows the murder of four road workers employed by PT Sutan Harauli Jaya (SHJ) by the armed separatist group in Wonimo District, Tolikara Regency, Papua Pegunungan, on Sunday night (2/8). The four victims have been identified as Barengga, Alfons, Arman Sibarani, and Erlin Aritonang. According to Kogabwilhan III, the perpetrators of the attack were OPM groups led by Serius Wanimbo, also known as Botak Wanimbo, and Teranus Enumbi. The victims were resting in their company camp after working on a national road project for the Wamena National Road Implementation Agency (BPJN), a technical unit under the Ministry’s Directorate General of Highways, in Kanggime District. The calm of the workers’ camp was shattered when two OPM groups emerged from the darkness and unleashed a hail of gunfire. Three workers died at the scene, while a fourth was found dead a short distance from the camp. Lieutenant General Lucky Avianto described the attack as a barbaric and cowardly act against civilians, intended solely to disrupt and halt the construction of a national road providing inter-regional access in the remote highlands of Papua. A total of 20 personnel from the TNI’s Habema Operations Task Force evacuated the victims’ bodies and pursued two OPM members armed with SS1 assault rifles near the location. In their haste to flee into the jungle, one OPM member abandoned a magazine for an SS1 assault rifle. The task force also successfully located seven workers who survived the attack. All victims of the OPM massacre are currently at Mulia Regional General Hospital in Puncak Jaya Regency. During the pursuit, six gunshots were heard from the OPM group within a radius of approximately 1.5 kilometres from the massacre site.