The man, identified by his initials as RNR, was shot at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and sustained gunshot wounds on the face and right shoulder, Papua Police spokesperson, Sen.Coms.Ahmad Musthafa Kamal, said.
The 32-year-old was admitted to the village's public health center for emergency treatment not long after the incident, he informed.
Following the shooting, a joint team of police and military personnel conducted patrols in the village and Sugapa city, he said.
According to RNR's wife, identified as M, the assailant was unknown to them. She told police he appeared from a street behind their house on Monday and told RNR he wanted to sell kerosene, Kamal informed.
The perpetrator told M he was not carrying a jerry can and asked her to give him one, but as soon as she turned, he pointed a short rifle at her husband and opened fire, Kamal said.
M screamed for help, but the attacker escaped, he added.
M and her neighbor, identified as L, have been summoned by local police probing the shooting, he said.
The Indonesian province of Papua has borne witness to a repeated cycle of violence, with armed Papuan criminal groups in the districts of Intan Jaya and Nduga targeting civilians and security personnel over the past two years.
Intan Jaya recorded its bloodiest month in September, 2020, with armed groups launching a series of attacks in the area that claimed the lives of two soldiers and two civilians and left two others injured.
The acts of terror have continued this year. On January 10, 2021, an Indonesian soldier died in a gunfight in the Titigi area of Intan Jaya district.
On January 6, 2021, for instance, 10 armed Papuan criminals vandalized and torched a Quest Kodiak aircraft belonging to Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) at the Pagamba village airstrip.
The armed men, led by Sabinus Waker, allegedly set ablaze the utility aircraft, bearing the registration number PK-MAX, not long after its American pilot Alek Luferchek disembarked two passengers.
The torching of the civilian aircraft was a brutal act since MAF planes have, since decades, conducted a noble mission for Papuan communities, Commander of the Cenderawasih Military Command, Maj. Gen. Ignatius Yogo Triyono, said.
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Translator: Muhsidin, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
