JAKARTA: The National Police recorded that there are around 150 members of the Papuan armed criminal groups.
The number was obtained after the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) mapped all rebel groups in the province.
“Approximately 150 people, the militant members,” said the National Police Head of Public Information Division, Sr. Comr. Ahmad Ramadhan.
The police could not reveal the exact number of sympathisers. “We have not yet known how many sympathisers,” he added.
Ramadhan said the police are still hunting down the armed groups, especially after the latest attack against two soldiers of the Indonesian Army in Nop Goliat Dekai Airport, Yahukimo earlier this week.
Two Indonesian soldiers were killed in an attack authorities have blamed on Papua rebel groups, as recent heightened tensions in the restive region saw in a least a dozen deaths on both sides.
Indonesia’s security forces have been intensifying a military crackdown in the Papua highlands following the killing of the province’s intelligence chief by rebel groups in late April.
His death angered Jakarta who moved to officially designate Papuan separatists “terrorists”.
Chief security Minister Mahfud MD said rebel groups killed two patrolling soldiers in Dekai district in Yahukimo regency.
“The attack shows that the terrorist groups continue to commit violence in Papua,” he told a Jakarta press conference.
Four other security forces were wounded in a separate attack on the same day in Serambakon district in Bintang mountains regency, he added.
“The government is committed to completely quell the groups in Papua,” he said.
Rebel group spokesman Sebby Sambom said the separatist movement was responsible for the killing of the two soldiers.
At least three soldiers and nine rebels have died in military and police attacks after the death of Papua’s intelligence agency chief on April 25, according to Indonesian officials.
Papuan separatists have claimed responsibility for his killing, with President Joko Widodo last month ordering security forces to crack down on the rebels.
