Key facts
- Indonesian security forces recovered the body of American pilot Nicholas F. Goselin in Papua.
- Armed separatists attacked and burned a small aircraft after Goselin landed at an airstrip.
- The West Papua Liberation Army, armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, claimed responsibility.
- The rebels stated the pilot was killed for violating a flight ban and the plane was burned as a message.
- The Indonesian military denied the plane was used to carry troops, stating the passengers were seven indigenous Papuan civilians.
Indonesian security forces on Friday recovered the body of an American pilot who was killed after armed separatists attacked and burned a small aircraft in the restive Papua region, a military commander said. Nicholas F. Goselin, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT AMA, was shot dead Thursday shortly after he landed at the Ipdeheik airstrip in Balinggama village of the Yahukimo regency in the mountainous province of Papua Highlands. The evacuation involved 10 personnel from the Habema Operations Command. Rebels armed with guns and axes raised the Morning Star flag, a symbol of Papuan independence, as they claimed responsibility for the attack in a video distributed to the media by the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement. A decades-old insurgency in impoverished Papua between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces has spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed. The rebels have especially targeted foreign pilots. Contact had been lost with the airstrip shortly after Goselin reported the plane landing. It carried one pilot and seven passengers, Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement. Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said the aircraft violated their ban on civilian flights in areas the separatist group considers its operational zones. He alleged that civilian aircraft have been used to transport Indonesian military personnel and logistics into Papua’s remote interior. He said the American pilot was killed because the aircraft continued operating despite the group’s warning. The Indonesian military denied that the plane was used to carry troops, stating those on board were seven indigenous Papuan civilians, including three women, who were unharmed. Sambom called on Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to open international negotiations aimed at resolving the decades-long conflict in Papua, which separatists say has resulted in civilian deaths and mass displacement. He also urged the United Nations to facilitate talks involving the Indonesian government, the TPNPB and Papuan representatives, and warned that the group would target other civilian aircraft it believes are assisting military operations in the region. In February 2023, Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, abducted Philip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch, New Zealand, who was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air. He was freed in September 2024. In August 2024, TPNPB gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, who worked for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service. Papua, a former Dutch colony, was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham, triggering the protracted conflict.