Soldiers Questioned Over Shooting Near PNG Border

Jayapura. Six members of the Armed Forces are being questioned about Monday’s shooting of a young boy near the Papua New Guinea border in Papua.

“Correct. We are examining six soldiers who were patrolling an area near the border when the shooting of Izak Psakor happened,” Col. Muhammad Gulton, commander of the Military Police of the Cenderawasih XVII Military Region, told reporters seeking confirmation of the number of soldiers detained on Thursday in relation to the case.

The Papua Military Police also sent a team to the location of the shooting, he said. “We will also call witnesses and [speak to] the victim to get more information,” Gulton said.

He said that based on data collected earlier, it was doubted that Izak was shot by a bullet from a TNI soldier’s gun because the would was too small. “The guns of TNI soldiers patrolling border areas are of the SS1 type, which fire bullets that leave quite big holes in the targeted bodies,” Gulton said, adding that investigators did not find any bloodstains at the location of the incident.

However, he said, if the soldiers were found guilty, they would be legally processed in accordance with existing laws.

According to information the TNI collected, the incident happened when six border patrol soldiers encountered five local residents, one of whom was suspected of carrying a gun. The soldiers said that they fired warning shots but no one was hit.

Frengky Psakor, the chief of Kibai village, said that Izak was with three other people on their way home from Skotyauw in Papua New Guinea when he was shot.  Antara

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