Papua Separatist Group Claims TNI-Police Attacked Their Nduga HQ

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The West Papua National Liberation Army and Free Papua Movement (TPNPB - OPM), which are considered as separatist organizations by the Indonesian government, claims the Indonesian army and police had commenced an attack at Keneyam, Nduga District city in Papua. 

This was revealed by Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the two groups, who claims information about the attack was first revealed by a leader of the TPNPB, Egianus Kogeya. 

“The attack by TNI and Police happened on March 29 by bombarding Keneyam with mortars,” Sambom wrote in a statement on April 4. 

This comes after management of the group’s headquarters declared war for one week from March 29 to April 3, which the spokesman claims is due to the internet problem that lasted for one week. He claims dozens of mortars were aimed at the TPNPB-OPM headquarters in a military aggression that lasted from dawn to the afternoon. 

Sambom claims the joint military and police personnel had utilized highly poisonous chemical weapons at a local field owned by local people at Nduga, which he claims destroyed local agriculture. 

However, this information was denied by the Papua police as the police spokesman grand commissioner Ahmad Mustofa Kamal said no such attack took place at Nduga. “There were none,” the police commissioner said in a text message to Tempo on April 4. 

Read: Activist Calls For Safety Of Civilians In Papua Amid Ongoing Conflicts

MOH KHORY ALFARIZI