Mily, Police joint team to evacuate rebel attack victims

Armed Criminal Group attacks, kills Istaka Karya workers in Nduga, Papua, on Sunday.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The military and police joint team is readied to evacuate victims of the armed Papuan rebel attack from the site in Yigi and the top of Mt Tabo in Nduga District, Papua Province, Cendrawasih Military Commander Maj Gen Joshua Sembiring said. The evacuation will be started on Wednesday by deploying troops through land and air routes.

"For the first stage, the team would evacuate victims around Yigi and Mt Tabo," Sembiring said when contacting from Jayapura on Wednesday.

However, Sembiring could not confirm the number of victims that would be evacuated. He is currently in Wamena with Papua Police Chief Insp Gen Martuani Sormin.

Earlier on Tuesday, the joint team has evacuated 12 civilians from Mbua, four of them are workers of PT Istaka, who managed to flee and sought refuge in the Mbua military post. The military post was then attacked by the rebels and one soldier was killed in the attack.

The attack on Sunday (Dec 2) by the armed group killed 28 workers of PT Istaka Karya, who were engaged in construction and building the Trans Papua project.

Spokesman of the Papua Provincial Police Senior Commissioner A.M. Kamal remarked that an Indonesian soldier was also killed in an attack on a military post on Sunday. The confirmation on the death of the Indonesian soldier was received from four workers of PT Istaka Karya who survived the attack.

On Tuesday morning, 153 military and police personnel were transported to Mbua, which is the closest sub-district to Yigi Subdistrict, he remarked, adding that two of the four workers who survived the killing sustained shot wounds when they were found by the on-duty security personnel.

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