JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A Papua separatist group said Thursday it has shot dead an American pilot who brought Indonesian troops into a ‘conflict zone.’
In a statement issued Thursday, Sebby Sambom, spokesman for the West Papua Liberation Army, or TPNPB, claimed the group’s fighters in Yahukimo regency shot dead American pilot Nicholas F. Goselin and set fire to an aircraft operated by PT AMA, an Indonesian airline, in Balinggama village.
Sambom said the aircraft was targeted because it allegedly violated a TPNPB ultimatum banning civilian flights from entering areas the separatist group considers its operational zones. There was no immediate information on the Indonesians.
The spokesman alleged that civilian aircraft have been used to transport Indonesian military personnel and logistics into Papua’s remote interior and said the pilot was killed because the aircraft continued operating despite the group’s warning. The claims could not be independently verified.
Sambom called on Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to open international negotiations aimed at resolving the decades-long conflict in Papua, which separatists say has resulted in civilian deaths and mass displacement.
He also urged the United Nations to facilitate talks involving the Indonesian government, the TPNPB and Papuan representatives, and warned that the group would target other civilian aircraft it believes are assisting military operations in the region.
