14 Jun 2017

ISIS lacks presence in Papua, says Indonesia military chief

3:02 pm on 14 June 2017

Indonesia's military chief says Papua is one of the few provinces where the militant group Islamic State lacks a presence.

General Gatot Nurmantyo told reporters that ISIS had a wide presence in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

Reuters reports him saying there are clandestine "sleeper" cells across almost every province in the Indonesian archipelago.

He singled out the far eastern, predominantly Christian province of Papua as one of the few exceptions.