Police detain two Papuans in suspected separatist attack
Police detain two Papuans in suspected separatist attack
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Two Papuans were arrested on Monday for questioning over an
attack that claimed five lives in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak
Jaya regency.
"The two are being questioned over their roles in the attack,"
said Comr. Wempy Batlayeri, the deputy chief of the Paniai
Police, which oversees Tinggi Nambut village.
The two suspects were identified as Nendilus Telenggen and
Kisman Telenggen. They are being questioned over an ambush on
Tuesday night near the village that left five migrant workers
from South Sulawesi dead.
On Sunday evening, a top officer with the Papua Police said
the situation in Tinggi Nambut village was under control and that
security personnel had been deployed to the area on Saturday
afternoon.
Hundreds of police officers and Indonesian Military soldiers
marched on Saturday some 17 kilometers from Mulia city, the
capital of Puncak Jaya regency, to Tinggi Nambut village, where
they quickly secured the area, said Insp. Gen. Timbul Silaen, the
chief of the Papua Police.
The security personnel were deployed to Tinggi Nambut after
members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), who are thought to be
responsible for the attack, cut access to the village, including
destroying bridges connecting the village with Mulia.
Security personnel did not encounter resistance when they
reached the village. The attackers are believed to have fled to
the jungle in the face of the advancing troops.
After securing the area, security personnel began searching
for five victims who were reportedly killed by the suspected OPM
members on Tuesday night.
The five -- all construction workers and migrants from
Makassar, South Sulawesi -- were returning to Mulia along with
several other people when they were ambushed by the suspected OPM
members.
Silaen said the bodies of the five had not been found as of
Sunday, but the police were still searching.
"Police have discovered where the civilians were attacked. We
found the five cars they were traveling in, which were burned,
along with other evidence such as spilled blood, six gun
magazines and other items, but we still do not know where the
remains of the five are," said Silaen.
The ambush was the first such attack along the road that
passes through Tinggi Nambut village. The road was opened two
years ago.
Before fleeing the village on Friday, the suspected Papuan
rebels burned down several buildings in the village, including
elementary schools and the subdistrict cooperative office.