April 29, 2025 | 07:15 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Movement (TPNPB-OPM) claimed to have shot dead two Indonesian National Army (TNI) soldiers in an armed attack in the Maybrat Regency, South West Papua, some time ago.
The Central Command Headquarters of the TPNPB declared that the attack was carried out by the Kodap IV Sorong Raya forces under the leadership of Manuel Aimau, Deputy Operations Commander. The attack began at 06:00 WIT (Eastern Indonesia Time) and targeted 510 Indonesian military personnel and the Chairman of the Papua National Human Rights Commission, Fritz Ramandey, who was involved in the search for former Chief of Criminal Investigation Unit of Teluk Bintuni, Inspector Tomi Samuel Marbun.
"The attack on the Indonesian government's military combined forces since this morning has resulted in the deaths of two TNI soldiers and others being shot, the attack also occurred against Indonesian military personnel on the outskirts of the Rawara River against a number of Indonesian military personnel which resulted in two military personnel being shot," said Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for TPNPB-OPM, on Monday, April 28, 2025.
TPNPB stated that the Indonesian military reportedly responded using two heavily armed helicopters and armed drones. They conducted an air strike on the TPNPB-OPM forces' position.
"Firing has continued at two different locations since 06.00 in the morning Papua time between the TPNPB forces of Kodap IV Sorong Raya and the Indonesian military forces, resulting in an air strike by the Indonesian military using two military helicopters equipped with machine guns," said Sebby.
Not only that, TPNPB claimed that the Chairman of the Papua National Human Rights Commission, Fritz Ramandey, sided with the military. They threatened to treat Ramandey as an enemy on the battlefield if he remained in the conflict area.
TPNPB warned all civilian parties involved in the military operation to immediately leave the conflict area. They emphasized that the search for victims should be handled by civilian institutions such as the local disaster management agency, not by security forces or the National Human Rights Commission.
There are nine areas designated by TPNPB-OPM as militia war zones. TPNPB spokesman, Sebby Sambom, had previously urged the Indonesian government to immediately evacuate residents from these nine areas. The nine areas in Papua referred to are the Yahukimo Regency; Star Mountains; Nduga; Puncak Jaya; Intan Jaya; Maybrat; Dogiyai; Paniai; and Deiyai.
Tempo has attempted to confirm the claim. However, as of the time of this news release, there has been no official statement from the Information Center of the Indonesian Military Headquarters regarding the deaths of two soldiers and the use of machine guns against the TPNPB-OPM.
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