The OPM attack harmed efforts to create peace and accelerate development in Papua, he added.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) on Friday described an attack by separatist rebels in Central Papua in which a sub-district military commander was killed as a serious violation of human rights.

“What was done by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) is a serious violation of human rights,” the head of the TNI Information Center, Mayor General Nugraha Gumilar, said in a statement received here on Friday.

The OPM attack harmed efforts to create peace and accelerate development in Papua, he added.

Therefore, he said, the TNI and the National Police (Polri) are currently chasing the perpetrators who attacked and killed the 1703-04 Aradide Sub-district Military Commander, Second Lieutenant Oktovianus Sogalrey.

He informed that Sogalrey left the 1703-04 sub-district military headquarters on Wednesday afternoon (April 10, 2024).

"However, until Thursday morning, April 11, 2024, he had not returned, so a search was carried out and he was found lying dead in the middle of the road towards Kampung Pasir Putih as a result of being attacked and shot by the OPM," he said.

He informed that Sogalrey’s body was taken to Paniai Regional Public Hospital and later, it was taken by land to Nabire, Papua, for burial at his family home.

He assured that the situation in Paniai district, Central Papua, is currently conducive.

Meanwhile, head of information of the Cenderawasih XVII Regional Military Command, Lieutenant Colonel Chandra Kurniawan, said that his side suspects that Matias Gobay-led OPM rebels were behind the attack.

Kurniawan told ANTARA in Jayapura, Papua, on Friday, that Sogalrey was attacked by OPM rebels in Pasir Putih area, Aradide sub-district, Paniai district, Central Papua, on Thursday morning.

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Translator: Rio Feisal, Raka Adji
Editor: Arie Novarina
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