2023-10-28 16:02:02
JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian security forces said Saturday they have recovered the bodies of six gold miners who were missing since a separatist group attacked their camp in the Papua region nearly two weeks ago.
Gunmen stormed the miners’ camp in the Yakuhimo district of Papua Highland province on Oct. 16, killing seven workers and setting fire to three excavators and two trucks, said Faizal Ramadhani, a national police officer who commands a force joint security.
Hours later, security force and military personnel engaged in a two-hour shootout with rebels occupying the camp, Ramadhani said.
The West Papua Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Organization, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Security forces rescued 11 workers who had hidden in the jungle. But they found only one body, and the other six victims were missing until their bodies were found on Friday near a river a few kilometers from the camp. Two of the bodies were burned and the others showed gunshot and stab wounds, Ramadhani said.
It was the latest in a series of violent incidents in recent years in Papua, where conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are frequent.
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