The Indonesian military says it has found the body of a US pilot who was shot down by separatist insurgents in the eastern region of Papua yesterday, in what rebels described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments.
Sebby Sambom, spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Organization, said yesterday that his troops shot down American pilot Nicholas F. Gosselin after he landed at an airstrip in Yahukimo regency, Highland Papua province.
He accused the plane of carrying Indonesian military personnel to the area.
“We immediately shot at the plane and set it on fire because it violated the TPNPB ultimatum,” he said. “We are ready to fire on any civilian aircraft across the territory of Papua that helps Indonesian military forces transport troops or provide military logistics.”
The attack was a message to the Indonesian and US governments for “failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papuan National Liberation Army”, Sebby added.
Today, Wirya Artadiguna, a military spokesperson in Papua, confirmed that Gosselin’s body had been found and evacuated and said the military was searching for those responsible.
In a separate statement cited by BBC News, Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said no safety concerns were raised when Gosselin’s plane landed, but communications were lost shortly after it landed. According to Reuters, the plane was operated by airline PT AMA, whose planes transport food, fuel and mail to remote villages in Papua.
Papua has been home to a simmering separatist insurgency since the region was absorbed by Indonesia in 1969, after what pro-independence activists say was a flawed UN referendum. But the conflict has worsened significantly over the past decade, as the Indonesian state has expanded its infrastructure and transport links into the heart of the Papuan highlands, provoking more damaging and sophisticated attacks from the TPNPB and Papuan independence groups.
The eastern part of the region in particular has become increasingly militarized since 2018. In 2022, the UN reported that more than 100,000 people had been displaced by the escalating conflict.
The TPNPB has a history of targeting aircraft serving remote and isolated areas of the Papua highlands. In February 2023, its soldiers attacked and destroyed a plane at an airport in Nduga, also in Highland Papua province. He also kidnapped his New Zealand pilot, Philip Mehrtens, threatening to kill him if his demands for independence were not met. The TPNPB released Mehrtens in September 2024, following discussions with Indonesian authorities.
A month before Mehrtens’ release, another New Zealander, helicopter pilot Glen Malcolm Conning, was shot and killed by TPNPB soldiers shortly after landing in a remote part of Central Papua province.