WAMENA, Indonesia, Dec 6, 2018 – Indonesian security forces took up the grim task of searching for more bodies Thursday after they retrieved 16 corpses in the aftermath of a massacre by suspected separatist rebels in restive Papua province, the military said Thursday.
\nThe deaths, believed to be of construction workers, mark the deadliest bout of violence in years to hit a region wracked by a low-level independence insurgency.
\nThe dead were being sent to the city of Timika from the remote district of Nduga, a mountainous region where the attack happened Sunday, said local military commander Binsar Sianipar.
\nThe dead have not yet been publicly identified and the military did not supply details about how they were killed, saying autopsies would be conducted.
\nAn earlier eyewitness account supplied by the military detailed the killing of at least 19 people, including in execution style shootings or having their throat slit.
\nPrevious local media reports put the number of dead between 24 and 31.
\nOn Thursday, the military warned that it was not yet clear whether all the dead worked for a state-owned contractor that has been building bridges and roads as part of efforts to boost infrastructure in the impoverished region.
\nAnother 20 people — including five employees of the contractor — have been evacuated from the area, but not all the company workers have been accounted for yet.
\nSome in Papua view Indonesia as a colonial occupier and its building work as a way to exert more control over a region that shares a border with Papua New Guinea, an independent nation.
\nOne soldier was killed and two were wounded earlier this week when they were sent to the remote site to investigate reports about the killings, according to authorities.
\nOn Wednesday, the military supplied an account from one survivor identified by his initials “JA” who claimed about 50 rebels entered the workers’ camp on Saturday and led them away with their hands tied behind their backs.
\nThe following day, the rebels shot dead a group of workers, while some tried to escape, the account said.
\nThe attackers allegedly recaptured half a dozen workers and slit their throats, according to the witness, who said at least 19 employees had been killed in all.
\nA Facebook account purportedly run by the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) said the armed group had killed 24 workers on the orders of regional commander Ekianus Kogoya.
\nIndonesia routinely blames separatists for violence in Papua and conflicting accounts are common.
\nThis weekend, about 500 activists — including an Australian — were arrested in a nationwide police crackdown that coincided with rallies on December 1, a date many Papuans consider their anniversary of independence from Dutch colonialists.
\nPapua declared itself independent on that date in 1961, but neighbouring Indonesia took control of the resource-rich region two years later on the condition it hold an independence referendum.
\nJakarta officially annexed Papua in 1969 with a UN-backed vote, widely seen as a sham.\u00a0 (AFP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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