KKB Militants Launch Fatal Attack on Papua Gold Mine

(MENAFN) Indonesian security forces pressed ahead Sunday with the urgent evacuation of dozens of workers — among them 26 Chinese nationals — from a gold mining site in Central Papua province after a deadly armed assault left two people dead, according to local media reports.

The attack was carried out Saturday by militants belonging to the separatist armed faction known as KKB, who stormed the remote mining facility in a violent assault, a news agency reported.

Samuel Tatiratu, adjunct senior commissioner to the Nabire police chief, confirmed that rescue operations were actively underway along a key inland waterway. "75 people had been evacuated along the Musairo River as of Sunday," Tatiratu said, adding that authorities were still working to establish the identity of one of the two recovered bodies.

The bloodshed marks the second major KKB-linked strike this month alone. Earlier in February, the militant group shot down a light aircraft, killing both its pilot and co-pilot in a brazen mid-air attack.

Central Papua sits within Indonesia's volatile easternmost territory, a region gripped by a decades-long separatist insurgency. KKB fighters have persistently targeted both security personnel and civilians, sustaining a cycle of violence that continues to destabilize one of the country's most resource-rich yet conflict-scarred provinces.

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