Hundreds of students flee Papua

Seeking shelter: Papuan children gathering at a temporary shelter in Wamena, Indonesia’s Papua province. — AFP

Jakarta: Hundreds of students have fled fighting in Indonesia’s restive Papua province, a local NGO said, amid unconfirmed reports of violent military reprisals after a massacre of civilian workers by separatist rebels.

The deaths of 16 government-linked employees at a remote jungle work camp in early Decem­ber marked a dramatic escalation from decades of mostly sporadic skirmishes between poorly armed and disorganised guerrillas and a powerful Indonesian military.