Tension high in Papua village

INDONESIA: The situation in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency remained tense on Friday, following the murder of five construction workers, all migrants from Makassar, South Sulawesi province earlier on Tuesday.

Fearing a backlash from the Indonesian Police, the alleged Papuan separatists, who have been accused over the killings of the migrants and have been holed up in the village, located in the central highlands of Papua, burned down public buildings, including elementary schools and the subdistrict cooperative office on Friday.

No fatalities were reported during the fires, which were apparently aimed at shifting the attention of the Indonesian police, according to preliminary speculation by Comr. Wempy Batlayeri, the chief of Paniai police overseeing Puncak Jaya regency in Papua province, on Saturday. -- JP