Reports filtering out from West Papua say six civilians were shot by Indonesian security forces last week in Yahukimo Regency.
Human Rights Monitor reports that military and police personnel opened fire at a group of Indigenous Papuan civilians near Samboga Village last Friday while returning from a gold-panning site.
Six young men aged between 19 and 28 were shot, including two who were critically injured, although it took several days before they were evacuated to hospital.
This comes as Indonesian security forces have been running a joint operation to pursue guerilla fighters with the West Papua Liberation Army, or TPNPB, in this mountainous region of Papua.
A human rights defender in the region told RNZ Pacific that the latest attack has been condemned by both religious and tribal leaders.
Yahukimo Fellowship of Churches spokesperson Reverend Atias Matuan said the conflict is between Indonesian forces and the TPNPB and should not involve targeting unarmed civilians.
A local church was also raided as part of the military and police operation.
A local tribal chief Alipia Yalak has also pleaded with Indonesian security forces to gain some cultural understanding and differentiate between Papuans who carry arrows and bows or other traditional weapons for hunting and fishing from pro-independence guerillas.
He said if actions by the Indonesian military and police continued to create civilian casualties, the state and the TPNPB should negotiate a peaceful solution.
Meanwhile, the Regent of Yahukimo Didimus Yahuli has urged state security forces not to use extra-judicial killing when detaining criminals
The Papua Tribune reports him saying law enforcement must follow the correct judicial process, starting from arrest, examination, to court verdicts so that perpetrators can serve their sentences in correctional institutions while getting the opportunity to repent.
He said it is wrong for security forces to arrest then simply kill a suspect.
The latest violence follows reports of arbitrary detention of Papuans in recent weeks in the regency.
