5 May 2011

Bougainville militant killing civilians - police

1:11 pm on 5 May 2011

Bougainville's assistant police commissioner says armed militants in the south of the autonomous province of Papua New Guinea are killing civilians.

The president John Momis has said if negoatiations don't quell violence and lawlessness in the area he's prepared to call in United Nations peacekeepers.

The assistant commissioner Thomas Eluh says a group of about 30 men under the command of a former Bougainville Revolutionary Army combatant named Damien Koike are killing civilians.

Mr Eluh says Mr Koike had agreed to speak with him but then reneged on the deal.

"From the information we've been getting he just goes out and kills people you know at his own wish. Maybe people who dislike him or people who talk against or people who may be in some dispute against him or his group, they just go out and kill these innocent people."

Thomas Eluh says police are also considering calling on other ex-BRA combatants who may have been associated with Damien Koike to try and negotiate with him.