Indonesia's security forces have launched a joint operation to pursue the group of West Papua National Liberation Army fighters who killed five road construction workers in Papua's Highland province on Sunday.
It comes amid reports that the deepening conflict between the pro-independence Papuan fighters and Indonesian forces has caused cases of mass displacement of village communities in Highland Papua and nearby regions.
Regarding Sunday's attack, the West Papua National Liberation Army, or TPNPB, confirmed it killed the five Indonesian workers at their camp in Tolikara Regency, alleging they were Indonesian intelligence agents disguised as construction workers.
Indonesian authorities pinned blame for the killings on an "armed criminal group", its label for the TPNPB, adding that the bodies of four of the five victims had been recovered, as police and military forces began hunting for the perpetrators.
String of attacks
Just last month, an American pilot, Nicholas Goselin, was fatally shot by the TPNPB after landing a small commercial airplane in Yahukimo District, in Highland Papua.
The TPNPB alleged the pilot had been helping to transport Indonesian military personnel, a claim rejected by the company that owned the plane which Goselin flew for, PT AMA.
In early 2023, a New Zealand pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens was taken hostage for eighteen months by another group within the TPNPB after landing a small commercial plane in Nduga District. Like Goselin's his aircraft was set on fire.
Last year, in April, sixteen Indonesians described as illegal gold miners were shot dead by TPNPB forces in Yahukimo District, also in Highland Papua.
As well as warning outsiders not to enter what it described as a war zone, the TPNPB in a statement reiterated its warning to Indonesians to leave the Highland region.
"All Indonesian government military intelligence agents and Indonesian immigrants working as motorcycle taxi drivers, construction workers, health workers, teachers, and civil servants must immediately cease their activities in the TPNPB operational area in Tolikara," the statement said.
Cycle of violence
The response by Indonesia's military forces to these events - increased operations in the area - has caused cases of mass displacement of villagers in numerous areas.
According to Human Rights Monitor, Indonesian military operations in response to the killing of Goselin has resulted in killings of three Papuan civilians in the Korowai region in the last eight days.
The operations also reportedly displaced hundreds of indigenous Papuans, including children, pregnant women and elderly people, who fled into nearby forests.
Human Rights Monitor reported that local sources and the TPNPB allege that security forces attacked villages using ground troops, helicopters and drones - these claims are not verified.
It said that as of late June 2026, more than 125,931 civilians across multiple regencies remained internally displaced due to military operations and armed conflict.