22 May 2017

Two dead in latest spate of violence in Papua

3:44 pm on 22 May 2017

There's been more deadly violence in Indonesia's Papua province.

Indonesian police at a demonstration in the Papuan region.

Indonesian police at a demonstration in the Papuan region. Photo: Supplied/ Whens Tebay

The body of a 45-year old woman from Maluku province was discovered outside a power plant in Waena, near Jayapura, early on Saturday morning.

As police moved the following day to make arrests in connection with the alleged murder ,a mob of around two hundred Moluccans gathered in Waena to avenge the woman's death.

The mob stirred unrest, with Tabloid Jubi reporting that two Highlands men were stabbed - one died and the other was seriously injured.

Jayapura City Police Chief Tober Sirait, who led the team responding to the first murder, confirmed eight suspects had been arrested.

Chief Sirait described them as alleged masterminds in a number of recent cases of violence in Jayapura and Keerom regencies.

He said one of the eight was shot in the process of being arrested.

The weekend's violence in Waena is the latest in a series of reported cases of violence in Jayapura in the past two months.

At least five people have been killed in these attacks, including a University of Cenderawasih lecturer eleven days ago in Waena.

On this case, a member of Indonesia's National Commission for Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, has claimed to have been the subject of an attack by police conducting investigations.

Nareky Kogoya he was assaulted and detained by police after being accused of protecting the perpetrators of the murder.

Mr Kogoya claims he was trying to help the police who subsequently pressured him not to reveal their attack on him to the public.

Chief Sirait told local media that not all of the witnesses they have questioned have been co-operative.

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