🇮🇩 TPNPB claims military airstrikes targeting civilians in Papua

The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) published a post and videos on 10 April, accusing the Indonesian Military (TNI) of perpetrating airstrikes targeting civilians in Indonesia’s Papua region.

The TPNPB post featured a statement from Eganius Kogoya, who leads a TPNPB faction based in Nduga Regency, Highland Papua Province. In the statement, Kogoya said while the TPNPB had defined the area of conflict in Papua (in an apparent attempt to limit fighting to specific areas), the TNI had “violated” this and had been bombing civilian areas in Nduga using helicopters and unmanned aircraft, which appeared to be a reference to drones.

Kogoya, currently the TPNPB’s most high-profile militant after his faction kidnapped New Zealand commercial pilot Philip Mehrtens in February 2023, also appeared to suggest the alleged airstrikes were doing nothing to help the fate of Mehrtens, stating that the pilot would now be kept on the battlefield alongside TPNPB militants “until death.” Kogoya said the TPNPB would only consider releasing Mehrtens through UN-mediated negotiations.

The TNI denied Kogoya’s claim that it was conducting airstrikes in Papua, stating that the claim showed how the TPNPB spread “hoax news.”

TPNPB continues to use pilot as propaganda tool

Alongside the written statement from Kogoya, the TPNPB also released two videos featuring Mehrtens, who spoke in Indonesian and English about the recent alleged airstrikes. In the videos, Mehrtens, flanked by TPNPB militants, said “large areas” had been destroyed by the alleged airstrikes, adding that he had been in a “safe area” but that now, due to the airstrikes, his safety was a concern.

Mehrtens also asked Indonesia to stop bombing the region, and for the TNI to “fight relative to the capability of the militia here [the TPNPB].”

The videos highlight how the TPNPB continues to use Mehrtens as a propaganda tool, this time in a bid to stave off alleged airstrikes, by suggesting that such airstrikes could end up inadvertently killing the New Zealand pilot.