Militants Shell Aircraft at Airport in Indonesia's Highland Papua During Landing: Report

MOSCOW, January 9 (Sputnik) - An armed group shelled a civilian aircraft that was about to land at the Oksibil Airport in the Indonesian province of Highland Papua, Indonesian news agency reported on Monday, citing local authorities.

"Indeed, a civilian cargo aircraft of the Ikairos [Papua Airlines] was subjected to fire and failed to land," Davi Bustomi, head of the local police, said.

Bustomi specified that the perpetrators managed to shoot through the fuselage, the aircraft’s main body section.

There is no information about the composition and motives of the armed group, the report said.

In the spring of 2022, Indonesia declared the separatists militant movements of the indigenous population of Papua as terrorist organizations, in connection with the multiple terrorist attacks carried out in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. The ethnic rebels of West Papua and the Indonesian authorities have been in a state of armed conflict for more than 60 years. The rebels are demanding the separation of West Papua from Indonesia and the establishment of a federation with Papua New Guinea.