Police Confirm Armed Civilian Group Behind Recent Firefight in Papua

Jakarta (Antara) - The police force confirmed that an armed civilian group was responsible for the recent armed conflict in the Puncak Jaya district, Papua. "The perpetrators were not from the Papua Free Organization (OPM) but belonged to an armed civilian group," National Police chief General Sutarman told Antara here on Thursday. He said the clash between the group and the Battalion 751 members was not connected with the recent general election. "It was not connected with the general election," he added. The army's head of information division Brigadier General Andika Perkasa said the army was still hunting for the group members following the conflict in Puncak Jaya on Wednesday. "We continued to look for the six people who escaped after the conflict. They fled toward a ravine near the scene of the conflict, but we know that a few of them were wounded," Brigadier General Andika Perkasa said. He admitted that the 17th Military Command members had known about the movement of the group in Puncak Jaya, following intelligence reports that it had received in the past week. Following the information, the military sent a seven-member team to patrol the area led by Captain Suchori from the task force to secure the vulnerable region under the jurisdiction of Battalion 751. "Later, it was proved that the information was correct. At around 8.05 a. m. on Wednesday, a gun fight broke out between the team and the radical group of seven people in Puncak Senyum in Distrik Mulia, Puncak Jaya," he said. Due to the incident, a member named Waniyo Enumbi from the Philia group led by Rambo/Engkaranggo Wonda was killed, while six others fled. "The patrol team confiscated an SS-1 V-5 rifle, a machete and an arrow," Andika said. No one from the Battalion 751 team was wounded in the clash. (*) Reporting by Juwita Trisna Rahayu