Ten people died and more than 20 were injured as a result of unrest in the Indonesian province of Papuathe police said on Friday.
Riots erupted on Thursday afternoon in the city of Wamena in the Jayawijaya district of Papua, the country’s easternmost province, amid reports of a child being kidnapped.
The local police who responded to the kidnapping report, which was later called a hoax, were attacked with stones and arrows. Officers fired warning shots hoping people would disperse, Papua police spokesperson Ignatius Benny Adi Prabowo said in a written statement Friday.
“The masses, who were becoming more and more anarchic, did not want to listen to the calls of the officers. They did not want to disperse when they were given warning shots and even attacked the officers with arrows,” Prabowo said.
Two civilians were killed, presumably by arrows and sharp weapons. At least 20 people were injured in the riots, including 18 police and military.
Ten people were killed during riots in the troubled Indonesian province of Papua on Thursday afternoon. The protests began after rumors of kidnapping, which the police later called a hoax. (Fox News)
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The rioters also set fire to shops and other buildings, set up roadblocks and attacked vehicles.
Prabowo said the situation is now “recovering and under control.”
Security forces and leaders were in the area promised to investigate the incident.
Tensions in the troubled region have soared over the past year, with clashes killing dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians.
A pilot from New Zealand was taken hostage by separatist rebels in Papua in early February. The Indonesian military said in a statement that community and religious leaders were working with the regional government to free the pilot.
Last July, militants believed to be separatist rebels killed 10 merchants from other Indonesian islands and a native Papuan. Rebel spokesperson Sebbi Sambom accused the victims of spying for the government.