AWPA condemns the killing of 15 West Papuans by the Indonesian security forces during a military operation

 Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)

AWPA Statement  22 October 2025

Indonesian military kill 15 West Papuans, the majority  civilians during military operation

AWPA condemns the  killing of  15 West Papuans by the Indonesian security forces during a military operation in Soanggama Village in Intan Jaya Regency, Central Papua.

During the military operation the security forces  conducted house to house searches and opened fire in an  indiscriminate fashion resulting in 15 deaths. According to community sources  soldiers buried most of the bodies  with some still to be found. 

                                                 Human Rights Monitor

Joe Collins of AWPA said, “as with previous military operations  local people fled in fear of their lives. In this case up to 145 residents fled from Soanggama, Janamba, and Kulapa. There are now over 100,000 displaced people in West Papua. Many are malnourished and children are missing out on their education”.

The security forces claimed that  the dead were  members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) and they were killed  in a firefight.

However, TPNPB Spokesperson Sebby Sambom  reported only  three of the dead were  TPNPB members. 

Local church leaders and civil society groups also disputed the official narrative. The Intan Jaya Conflict Mediation Team stated that not all 15 victims were affiliated with the TPNPB, identifying at least nine civilians, including a deaf man and a housewife who died while fleeing. 

The Head of the Intan Jaya Conflict Mediation Team, Yoakim Mujizau, said  that his team had visited Soanggama Village and identified the victims and gathered information from residents who witnessed the incident. The team also received information from members of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) stationed there.

The latest information is that all the victims have been buried by the Task Force in different locations. Two victims were buried in Soanggama Hamlet in front of the Protestant Church. Six people were buried in Dusandigi Hamlet, Soanggama Village, and one woman was buried in Jembatan Hamlet, on the Wuisiga River.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the other six victims have not yet been found.

"The security forces are still unwilling to provide information. Where are the shooting victims? And where are they buried? So we are still investigating the whereabouts of the bodies, and we have not yet identified them," he said.

Collins said, "we have statements from the Indonesia  military  saying it reclaimed/ liberated  a village from the TPNPB when  the only liberation that needs to be done is the liberation of West Papuans from the oppression of the Indonesian security forces".

Joe Collins said," we have a massacre of Papuan civilians on our doorstep and there is no comment from Canberra on the incident. No concern about the ongoing human rights abuses, the military operations or the death of civilians in the territory”. 

All Canberra does "is to train and exercise with the Indonesian military. Sign a  defence treaty  with PNG and build up bases for US forces in the north. All to prepare for some imaginary invasion from China. Australia has always been concerned about stability in the region to our north, but the West Papua issue is the one issue that could cause the very instability the Canberra fears.

The West Papuan issue is not going away. Time for Canberra to become involved and put pressure on Jakarta to control its military in West Papua, as a first small step.

Ends

Sources

Jubi, Human Rights Monitor and Civil society reports 

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