"A letter notifying the extension of the Nemangkawi Task Force's operational period until January 25, 2022, has been available," National Police spokesperson Brig.Gen.Ahmad Ramadhan said here on Monday.
The decision was made considering the outcome of analysis and evaluation conducted by the National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI) before the task force's operational period ended in December 2021.
The extended period would be used by the police to prepare whatever is needed to continue its territorial operation under the command of Papua Police, Ramadhan said.
"Operation Nemangkawi has become a territorial operation under the Papua Police's commandship," he added.
According to its year-end statement, the National Police conducted six centralized operations and 270 territorial operations in 2021.
Two of the operations were related to phase one and two of the Nemangkawi Task Force's operations in Papua, which resulted in the arrest of 27 members of Papuan separatist terrorist groups, the statement said.
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Police operations in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua also led to the surrender of 53 members and sympathizers of Papuan separatist terrorist groups and declare their allegiance to Indonesia, it added.
The National Police applied soft approaches in its security operations in Papua through such community-based programs as "Binmas Noken", "Tifa", and "Kaswari", it said.
In implementing those community-based programs for improving the native Papuan communities' welfare, the National Police collaborated with several ministries, it added.
ANTARA has reported that Operation Nemangkawi was launched in 2019 following the massacre of 31 workers of PT Istaka Karya in Kali Yigi and Kali Aurak in Yigi sub-district, Nduga district, on December 2, 2018.
Papuan separatist terrorists, who were believed to be behind the brutal killings of the Trans Papua construction workers, also killed a soldier, identified as Handoko, and injured two other security personnel, Sugeng and Wahyu, according to reports.
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Papua has been witness to a repeated cycle of violence, with armed groups in the districts of Intan Jaya, Nduga, and Puncak targeting civilians and security personnel over the past few 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 in 2021. On January 10, 2021, for instance, an Indonesian soldier died in a gunfight in the Titigi area of Intan Jaya district.
On April 25, 2021, Papuan separatists, operating in Beoga, ambushed State Intelligence Agency (Papua) chief I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha and several security personnel during their visit to Dambet village.
Nugraha died of gunshot wounds sustained in the attack.
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Translator: Laily R, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
