Indonesia's security forces have launched an operation to pursue a splinter group of independence fighters from the West Papua National Liberation Army that killed road construction workers in the territory's highlands.
The five Indonesian men were working at a remote camp in the Highland Papua province. The separatist rebels have claimed the workers were gathering intelligence on behalf of the Jakarta government.
The latest casualties from the conflict come amid ongoing reports the deepening battle between the pro-independence Papuan movement and Indonesian forces is causing mass displacement among the Indigenous village communities in the surrounding areas.
The West Papua National Liberation Army confirmed the group killed the Indonesian workers at their camp in Tolikara regency, alleging the men were Indonesian agents disguised as construction workers.
Indonesian authorities blamed an "armed criminal group" - its common label for the West Papua National Liberation Army - for the killings, adding that the bodies of four of the five victims have been recovered amid police and military forces beginning their hunt for the perpetrators.
The deaths are the latest of a spate of attacks that has intensified across the West Papuan territory in recent times.
The West Papua National Liberation Army fatally shot American pilot Nicholas Goselin last month after he landed a small commercial aircraft in Yahukimo regency in the volatile province.
The militant wing for the Indigenous West Papua sovereignty movement alleged the pilot was transporting Indonesian military personnel, a claim the owners of the aircraft, Associated Mission Aviation, vigorously rejected
That incident followed a similar attack on New Zealand pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens in 2023 where he was taken hostage for 18 months by soldiers of the West Papua National Liberation Army after landing a small plane in the Nduga regency of the same province.
In April 2025, 16 Indonesians the West Papua National Liberation Army described as illegal gold miners were shot dead by Indigenous Papuans in Yahukimo.
After warning outsiders not to enter what it described as a war zone, the West Papua National Liberation Army reiterated in another statement a warning to Indonesians to leave the highland regions altogether.
"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 West Papua National Liberation Army operational area in Tolikara," the statement said.
The West Papua National Liberation Army has also not baulked at killing ethnic Papuans accused of espionage. One week before the attack on the construction workers, it accused three West Papuans of being traitors, alleging the two men and one woman were intelligence agents for the Indonesian military.
According to Human Rights Monitor, the response from Indonesia's security forces to the cycle of violence reportedly displaced hundreds of Papuans including children, pregnant women and the elderly; forced to flee into nearby forests from their homes out of fear.
The independent, non-profit human-rights monitoring and advocacy project also reported their local sources on the ground have alleged the Indonesian security forces attacked villages by using ground troops, helicopters and drones.
Human Rights Monitor has calculated that to the end of June this year around 126,000 civilians across multiple Papuan regencies have remained internally displaced from the Indonesian military operations and the related armed conflict.
