15 Jan 2010

Kwalik killers get Indonesian police commendation

11:52 am on 15 January 2010

A team of 50 Indonesian police officers has received special commendations from the National Police headquarters for shooting and killing the Papuan rebel leader, Kelly Kwalik, last month.

Kelly Kwalik, who led an armed faction of the pro-independence Free Papua Movement, was shot during a raid at one of his hiding places in Gorong-Gorong in the city of Timika.

Police say he was carrying a gun when he was shot by an officer.

A police spokesman has told the Jakarta Globe that all police members involved in the operation will receive priority attention in regard to promotion.

The police claim that Kwalik was involved in series of attacks in Papua, including a deadly 2002 ambush of a convoy of buses near the Freeport mine.

The Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights has described Kelly Kwalik as the embodiment of the Papuan resistance struggle.