17 Mar 2016

West Papua shooting claims at least 3 road builders

8:31 pm on 17 March 2016

Police in Indonesia's Papua region say at least three construction workers were shot dead by an armed group in Puncak Jaya district on Tuesday.

Downtown Jayapura.

Downtown Jayapura. Photo: RNZ / Koroi Hawkins

The employees, with the construction firm Modern, were working on the Jalan Trans Papua - a 4,000 kilometre long road being built across the Papua provinces.

The Jakarta Globe reported the workers were shot during an armed attack that left another in a critical condition, while seven escaped unscathed.

Machinery was also destroyed during the attack.

The Puncak Jaya police chief, senior commander Marcelis, told the Antara news agency he believed the Yambi militant group was behind the attack.