It is true that an armed separatist group has shot dead a teacher of the state junior high school SMP Negeri 1 Julukoma
Timika (ANTARA) - A junior high school teacher in Beoga Sub-district, Puncak District, Papua Province, died on Friday evening following a lethal firing unleashed by an armed criminal group.

"It is true that an armed separatist group has shot dead a teacher of the state junior high school SMP Negeri 1 Julukoma," acting chief of Puncak district police Commissioner I Nyoman Punia stated.

The junior high school teacher, identified as Yonatan Randen, was shot dead at his home in Julukoma Village, near Beoga Airport, on Friday, at 4:45 p.m. local time.

Randen was the second junior high school teacher to have been shot dead this week.

On Thursday (April 8) at 9:30 a.m. eastern Indonesian time, the armed group shot dead a civilian Oktovianos Rayo, 42, a teacher living in Julukoma Village, Beoga, Papua.

Rayo was shot twice when he was about to enter his house. Later on in the day, the group set ablaze some schools in the village.

Nyoman stated that the bodies of Randen and Rayo are currently kept at the Beoga public health service post.

A joint team of the Indonesian military and police (TNI-Polri) has continued to hunt for members of the Nau Waker-led armed criminal group and ensured the people's safety in Puncak District, Papua.

"We will do our best to ensure the people's security," a spokesman of the Operation Nemangkawi Senior Commissioner Pol. M. Iqbal Alqudussy noted in a statement here on Friday.

Alqudussy remarked that the joint team had occupied the region under Nau Waker's control in Tembagapura.

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Translator: Evarianus Supar/Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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