Indonesian police have shot dead two West Papuan activists and burned down a house in the provincial city of Wamena which was used as the "Tribal Council" office for community meetings.
Hubertus Mabel, 30, and Natalis Alua, both members of the West Papua National Committee (KNBP) were shot outside a house in the village of Kurulu at about 11am on Sunday, and later died.
Activists said the house belonged to Hubertus's family and he was there to celebrate Christmas.
The shootings mean that, this year so far, 22 KNPB members have been killed; three are missing; seven have been charged with various offences and more than 200 arrested but released within three months.
After the shootings, three men burned down a small wooden police post in a Wamena marketplace, an act which apparently prompted police to go to the city's Tribal Office which is used for community meetings and also burn it to the ground.
Police spokesman, Senior Commissioner Gede Sumerta Jaya, denied the police had deliberately killed the two men.
"It wasn't a shooting, it was an effort to arrest someone who broke the law," commissioner Gede said.
He said two police had gone to the house in the village about 30 minutes from Wamena because they had received information that one of the people responsible for planning an attack on Pirime police station, which killed three policemen in late November, was there.
Commissioner Gede said that, at the house, the police were outnumbered by Mr Mabel and four of his friends, who were armed with machetes.
"Our officers ordered them to lay down their weapons but they didn't listen. In fact they came to the two officers and attempted to grab the officers' weapons from their hands," Commissioner Gede said.
"They almost made it but then the officers shot Hubertus on both his legs to paralyse him. Two ran away and the other two were arrested along with Hubertus."
Catholic priest John Djonga told Fairfax he had tried to see Hubertus's body yesterday afternoon, "but couldn't because a lot of police officers were guarding the hospital".
KNPB leader Victor Yeimo dismissed the police version as a "propaganda report to justify police".
"Indonesian police through chief of Papua Police, Tito Karnavian and its soldiers, Densus 88, have made a scenario through labelling the KNPB's activists in Wamena as terrorists," Mr Yeimo said.
He confirmed that Mr Mabel was "one of the freedom fighter who [was] militant and radical," and had helped "strengthen the resistance" of KNPB.
"He has inspired so many young West Papuan to stand strong in fight for the right of freedom," Mr Yeimo said.
Mr Djonga said the later fire at the Tribal Office had been lit at the command of the deputy Wamena police chief himself.
The office's guards said the a group of police had gone to the building, fired their guns repeatedly into the air, and then started the fire.
A low level insurgency has been raging in the resource-rich province since Indonesia arranged for it to become part of the country in 1969.