The policeman who belonged to Jakarta's Kelapa Dua Mobile Brigade Division had been evacuated to Timika, the capital of Mimika District. His body would be airlifted to Jakarta for burial
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - Joni Botak led a group of Papuan criminals involved in a two-hour gunfight with Indonesian security personnel in Jipabera, Tembagapura Subdistrict, in Mimika District, Friday, February 28, Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw said. Police Constable Doni Priyanto, of the mobile brigade unit, who was wounded in the gunfight died of his injuries early Saturday, Waterpauw told ANTARA in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, Saturday.

The policeman who belonged to Jakarta's Kelapa Dua Mobile Brigade Division had been evacuated to Timika, the capital of Mimika District. His body would be airlifted to Jakarta for burial, Waterpauw said.

The Joni Botak-led armed group which operated around the Kali Kabur area of Tembagapura Subdistrict might have also been responsible for the abduction of three contract teachers, according to Waterpauw.

The law enforcement efforts to crush these notorious criminals would continue until they surrendered, he added.

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The security situation in Papua remains vulnerable to acts of deadly violence by notorious Papuan separatists.

The rebels were engaged in repeated exchanges of fire with the Indonesian military and police personnel. The rebels have also launched deadly attacks on civilians over the past years and killed a number of them.

From early January to December 28, 2019, a total of 23 shooting and criminal cases involving the Papuan groups had claimed the lives of 10 members of the Indonesian police and military as well as 10 civilians, the Papua Police recorded.

The Papuan criminals committed such acts in the administrative areas of the districts of Puncak Jaya, Jayawijaya, Mimika, and Paniai in 2019, Waterpauw said on December 28, 2019.

Apart from the endeavors of the central and provincial governments to persuade the rebels to end their acts of violence and return to their families to resume a normal life, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has officially declared war against Indonesia.

The implication of this OPM's declaration that its spokesman Jeffrey Bomanak made in Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea (PNG), on January 31, 2019, has prolonged the circle of violence.

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Translator: Evarukdijati, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Mulyo Sunyoto
Copyright © ANTARA 2020