Police Confirm 16 Native Papuans Injured in Jayawijaya Tribal Clash

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Some 16 native Papuans suffered arrow wounds in a tribal clash erupting in Jayawijaya District's area, Papua, on Thursday and Friday, but a public hospital’s local doctors offered timely life-saving treatment, a police officer stated.

The doctors extracted the remnants of arrows that pierced into the victims' bodies, though none were hospitalized in keeping with the requests of families, Jayawijaya Police Chief Adjunct Sen. Coms. Dominggus Rumaropen stated in Wamena on Saturday.

Hence, the injured Papuans were taken home by their families to be treated at home, he remarked while steering clear of elaborating on the factors causative to the clashes between the tribes in the villages of Wukahilapok and Meagama.

In putting a stop to the clash and pushing them back, police personnel deployed to the incident site fired a warning shot while appealing to them to stop assaulting each other.

They also installed a Red-and-White flag on a boundary line of the area that each member of the warring camps was not allowed to pass through. They were also persuaded to start negotiating to end the conflict, he revealed.

Apart from the local police's endeavors to end the clash, one of the warring groups set ablaze several traditional Papuan huts (honai). They appeared to disregard the police’s presence on the ground.

On the contrary, each sparring camp was on guard and equipped with traditional weapons, including arrows, spears, and machetes, he stated.

Violent conflicts between tribes in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua have repeatedly occurred. Media reports attribute the conflicts to causative factors, such as old rivalries and revenge.

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ANTARA