Rebels in Indonesia’s eastern Papua region have attacked a small passenger plane, burning it and taking the pilot hostage.
Rebels from the West Papua National Liberation Army or TPNPB claimed responsibility for the attack on a Susi Air plane in Nduga district on Tuesday.
“The pilot has been taken to a TPNPB headquarters, it is very far away in another district,” TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom told Agence France-Presse Wednesday.
Sambon also said five passengers on board the plane were released by the rebels after its arrival from the mining town of Timika because they were ethnic Papuans.
A joint team of Indonesian military and police was dispatched to search for the pilot, national police chief Listyo Sigit told reporters Tuesday.
The rebels are demanding for Indonesia to recognize Papuan independence in return for the pilot’s release and a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo facilitated by the international community, Sambom said, according to AFP.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Transportation Ministry temporarily closed the Paro Sub-district Airfield as the destroyed plane is on the runway obstructing flights, Antara News reported, quoting statement from the ministry’s spokesperson Adita Irawati.
Irawati said the whereabouts of the pilot and the released passengers are not known, according to Antara News.
A former Dutch colony, Papua declared itself independent in 1961, but Indonesia took control two years later, promising an independence referendum that was widely considered a sham.