At least six people have been killed and some 30 are unaccounted for after Indonesian separatists attacked armed forces personnel deployed as part of an operation to rescue Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a kidnapped New Zealand pilot.
Preliminary information suggests that the rebels carried out an attack on a military post in the district of Nduga, in the province of Papua, where some 36 soldiers were organizing operations to rescue Mehrtens, who became a hostage of the separatists in February.
The army has indicated that the troops were encircling the area when the attack took place, which left at least six dead, according to information from the Kompas news agency.
A military spokesman, however, said that nine soldiers are now in the hands of the rebels, while the number of missing persons is 30. Colonel Herman Taryaman indicated that »the exact number of dead and wounded is not known at the moment».
Indonesian government security forces have been accused over the past decades of committing human rights abuses in Papua, a region that was incorporated into Indonesia in a UN-administered vote that rights groups and pro-independence activists criticized as a sham. There has been a separatist insurgency in Papua since the 1960s.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
