Gunmen kill Indonesia soldier in Papua: Army

Unidentified gunmen ambushed Indonesian soldiers and killed one of them Thursday in the easternmost province of Papua, a military officer said. Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu, the army chief in Papua, said the attackers ambushed a group of soldiers outside a village in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya. The soldiers were attacked while taking their food supplies near the district capital of Mulia, Triassunu said, adding that soldiers are still chasing the gunmen. He identified the victim as a first private who died instantly after being hit by a gunshot to his head, No information was available on the other soldiers. Papua, a former Dutch colony on the western part of New Guinea, was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot. However, a small, poorly armed separatist group, known as Free Papua Movement, or OPM, has battled for independence ever since.

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