A U.S. pilot has been shot dead by a separatist group in Indonesia’s West Papua after a small plane operated by an Indonesian airline landed in the country’s Yahukimo region in the Highland Papua province.
U.S. pilot Nicholas F. Gosselin and seven passengers were onboard the Indonesian airline PT AMA as the pilot allegedly helped transport Indonesian troops into the restive province.
After the shooting the aircraft was also set afire by the separatist group.
Officials said the seven passengers, including three women, who were on board were Papuans, and were unharmed.
An evacuation team attempted to reach the site on July 2 but turned back because of poor weather, Papuan military spokesman Lt. Col. Wirya Artadiguna said.
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), an armed separatist group, has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was a “message” to the U.S. and Indonesian governments.
A spokesperson for the TPNPB claimed that the aircraft had been “frequently dropping Indonesian military personnel and violating the TPNPB’s ultimatum,” and that both the Indonesian and U.S. governments “[failed] to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papua National Liberation Army.”
A video supplied by the TPNPB showed the separatist group armed with guns and axes, and raising the “Morning Star” flag, a symbol of independence, while announcing the attack.
The spokesperson also urged the United Nations to facilitate talks involving the Indonesian government, the TPNPB, and the Papuan government, warning that the separatist group would target other civilian aircraft it believed were assisting military operations in the region.
On July 3, Artadiguna confirmed that the separatist group carried out the attack, and said that the body of the U.S. pilot had been recovered and evacuated.
The Papuan military is seeking out the perpetrators and is looking for the passengers from the flight, Artadiguna said.
Attacks by independence fighters in the resource-rich western half of Papua have been more frequent in recent years.
In February 2023, Egianus Kogoya, a commander in the Free Papua Movement, abducted New Zealand pilot Philip Mark Mehrtens, who was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air.
Mehrtens was freed in September 2024.
In August 2024, TPNPB gunmen attacked a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, who was working for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service.
Conning was shot shortly after landing in a remote village in the Mimika district carrying several Indigenous Papuans who were freed.
Papua, a former Dutch colony, was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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