At least four teenagers were shot dead in eastern Indonesia's restive Papua province in clashes with security forces, authorities said Tuesday (Dec 9) , although rights campaigners accused police of opening fire on protesters.
Monday's incident was the latest flare-up in violence in the eastern region, where poorly armed fighters have been waging a low-level insurgency against Jakarta for decades on behalf the mostly ethnic Melanesian population. There were conflicting reports about what happened. Police said that four people died when several hundred protesters attacked military and police posts in the remote Madi area, in mountainous Paniai district, and it was not clear who fired the shots.