REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TIMIKA -- Construction of a bridge over Yigi River located in Yall Sub-district, Nduga District, Papua Province, will resume next week, Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto stated. The TNI and Indonesian Police (Polri) will set up a joint security team to guard the construction work of bridges and roads in Nduga, which are part of the Trans Papua project.

"Insha Allah (God Willing), next week, development of the bridge and (Trans Papua) road will resume," the marshal noted here, Thursday.

The military will coordinate with the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry for the resumption of development activities in the country's easternmost province of Papua. On December 2, 2018, armed criminal group members murdered several workers building a bridge over Yigi River.

The joint TNI and Polri team has, so far, discovered 16 bodies of slain workers employed by the PT Istaka Karya construction company. The team managed to evacuate eight survivors and move eight bodies from Nduga to Timika, Mimika District, on Thursday.

Jimy Aritonang, one of the survivors, recalled that some 50 armed men belonging to an outlawed group, led by Egunius Kogoya, had taken 25 workers from the camp to Mount Kabo.

On arriving in the remote mountainous area, the criminals shot the workers, whose hands were bound. Some 14 men died on the spot, while 11 others pretended to be dead and later attempted to escape. However, five were later recaptured and killed by the criminals, while several others managed to reach a military post.

The criminals chased them until the military post and got engaged in a shootout with the officers. One military officer, identified as First Sergeant Handoko, was killed in the attack, while another one was injured.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika