Indonesia Highlights: Papuan Mob Kills Two Indonesian Soldiers | Mob in Indonesia’s Lampung Province Burns Down A Police Station | Initial Attempts to Raise Sunken Indonesian Submarine Fails

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Law and order has been tested throughout Indonesia. A mob in Papua Province has killed two Indonesian soldiers and stole their assault rifles, while another crowd in Lampung Province burned down a police station in the province’s Lampung Selatan Regency.

In other news, Chinese salvage vessels participating in the search for the Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala-402 encountered a setback, after one of the ships’ cables snapped off as it tried to bring a part of the submarine to the surface. This and more on Indonesia Highlights:

Dokumentasi TNI A file photo of Indonesian military (TNI) personnel during a patrol in Sugapa district in Intan Jaya regency, Papua.

Papuan Mob Kills Two Indonesian Soldiers

Tensions in the embattled Indonesian province of Papua remain high, after a mob of men beat two Indonesian Army soldiers to death at the Yahukimo Regency on Tuesday, May 18.

Military Area 172 commander Brigadier General Izak Pangemanan, whose command includes Yahukimo, said the crowd assaulted Master Private M. Alif and Private Aryudi as the two men were guarding the Nop Goliat Dekai Airport.

“The mob converged to attack Master Private M. Alif and Private Aryudi. Their cause of death was multiple stab wounds,” Izak noted. “Their attackers took away the deceased’s SS2 assault rifles.”

While the authorities have yet to identify the perpetrators, Izhak has little doubt about the responsible parties. “We strongly believe that insurgents or Armed Criminal Groups [KKB] are behind this attack, though we are still trying to determine their complicity,” Izak asserted.

Papua Regional Police chief Inspector General Mathius D. Fakhiri will coordinate the pursuit of the suspects with Army Major-General Ignatius Yogo Triyono.

“We will not be rash in our pursuit of the suspects, especially as they are now armed with assault rifles. We urge [military and police personnel] to be more careful in using firearms, as stealing and using the weapons are the insurgents’ main goal,”,” Fakhiri said.

The ongoing insurgency in Papua continues to take its toll on Indonesian servicemen and civilians, as well as Papuan insurgents.

Indonesian regional military intelligence chief Brigadier General I Gusti Danny Putu Nugraha is the highest profile fatality of the conflict, after insurgents in Puncak Jaya shot and killed him in an ambush at the end of April.

Source: https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/05/19/060607374/papuan-mob-kills-two-indonesian-soldiers?page=all#page2. 

Tangkapan layar video Footage of the burning of the Candipuro police station in Lampung Province's Lampung Selatan regency on Tuesday (18/5/2021)

Mob in Indonesia’s Lampung Province Burns Down A Police Station

A mob in Indonesia’s Lampung Province have taken the law into their own hands in the most inapposite way, by setting fire to a police station at the South Lampung [Lampung Selatan] Regency on Tuesday, May 19. No casualties were reported in the incident.

An eyewitness to the fire recorded the crowd in Beringin village burning down the police station at the Candipuro district, and uploaded the footage. The video went viral and found its way to the WhatsApp instant messaging apps. A running narrative he provided discloses the arsons’ motives.