According to Papua Police Chief Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri, the injured worker, who was assaulted in Kumbalagupa Village of Sugapa Sub-district, Intan Jaya District, was identified as Aris Kalan.
The attackers belong to the Undius Kogoya-led armed Papuan group, Fakhiri noted in a statement that ANTARA quoted in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Friday.
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Fakhiri remarked that the Intan Jaya police investigators are continuing to probe the assault case of Kalan, the construction worker for the government's social housing project in Kumbalagupa Village.
The police officers have identified two men, who attacked Kalan and his workmate, only identified by his initials as SB, he stated while adding that they were assaulted when they were checking a fully completed housing unit.
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While numbering and taking photo of the house, two men, armed with machetes, suddenly showed up and shouted at them while asking about their foreman. Kalan and SB did not respond to their question.
The armed men then attacked Kalan with machetes, but he survived the assault after fleeing to some bushes near the house, while SB defended himself by fighting against the attackers at the house's yard, Fakhiri stated.
The attackers ran away, while Kalan was evacuated by several villagers to the Sugapa Public Health Center to receive medical care for the sharp force injury that he suffered on his back, he remarked.
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From the public health center, Kalan was then evacuated to the Nabire Public Hospital, he remarked while urging workers and residents to remain alert to the armed Papuans' terror attacks.
Papua has borne witness to a repeated cycle of violence over the past few years, with armed groups in the districts of Intan Jaya, Nduga, and Puncak targeting civilians and security personnel.
Intan Jaya recorded its bloodiest month in September 2020 when armed groups launched a series of attacks in the area that claimed the lives of two soldiers and two civilians and left two others injured.
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The acts of terror continue this year.
On March 2, 2022, several members of an armed Papuan group operating in Beoga Sub-district, Puncak District, killed Palaparing Timur Telematika's (PTT's) eight workers, who were repairing a base transceiver station (BTS) tower of state-owned telecommunications operator Telkomsel.
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The workers slain in the attack were identified as B, R, BN, BT, J, E, S, and PD, while another worker, only identified by his initials NS, had survived the deadly assault, according to Papua Police spokesperson Senior Commissioner Ahmad Kamal.
The case of murder of PTT workers is not the first tragedy to have struck this eastern Indonesian province.
On December 2, 2018, a group of armed Papuan rebels had brutally killed PT Istaka Karya's 31 workers, who were engaged in construction and building the Trans Papua project in Kali Yigi and Kali Aurak in Yigi Sub-District, Nduga District, Papua Province.
The armed rebels, who launched the brutal killings, also slayed a soldier named Handoko and injured two other security personnel, Sugeng and Wahyu.
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Translator: Evarukdijati, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
