Papuan Insurgents Burn Down Houses in Indonesia’s Yahukimo Regency

JAYAPURA, KOMPAS.com – The situation in Yahukimo regency of Papua turned violent after a series of alleged attacks by armed criminal groups (KKB) in Dekai district, Police said.

Three houses were burned down in two consecutive days during the attacks. “A house was burned down in the afternoon on Monday, August 16, and two others on the next morning,” said the Papua Criminal Investigations Directorate (Direskrimum) commander Senior Commissioner Faisal Ramadhani in a phone interview on Wednesday, August 18.

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“The attacks were allegedly involving the group led by Tendius Gwijangge,” he added.
Besides burning houses, the group also clashed with the members of the Indonesian military and police in the Dekai district. At that time, the armed criminal group KKB allegedly extorted money from residents who live near the airport area while opening fire.

“The gun battle occurred at around 11 am local time for about an hour in Dekai city. They were seen at the end of the airport area when extorting money from residents. As the group opened fire, the members of [military and police] immediately responded to it,” he said, adding that there were no casualties in the incident.

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As the situation turned violent, Faisal, who is also the head of the police’s Nemangkawi task force said that more members will be deployed to the location.

“Two teams or 20 police members will be deployed tomorrow [Thursday] to enhance [the security],” he added.

Attacks by insurgents have increased in several districts in Indonesia’s easternmost region in the past year.

(Writer: Dhias Suwandi | Editor: Pythag Kurniati)

Source: https://regional.kompas.com/read/2021/08/18/181517878/yahukimo-memanas-kkb-bakar-3-rumah-warga-dan-terlibat-kontak-senjata-dengan.