KIWIROK, HIGHLAND PAPUA, INDONESIA – SEPTEMBER 25, 2025 In the mountainous Pegunungan Bintang region, an armed clash occurred between Indonesian security forces and the separatist group OPM. During the incident, one Indonesian army soldier, Pratu Haris Umaternate, who served in a unit deployed to protect the border with Papua New Guinea, was killed.
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- Pratu Haris Umaternate
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- His dead body
OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, meaning “Free Papua Movement”) is a separatist group that has long sought independence of the western part of the island of New Guinea from Indonesia. It has been operating in the area for decades, and occasional clashes with the army and police occur there.
The incident took place in the Kiwirok region, which is a very remote, mountainous, and hard-to-access area. Such locations in Papua are often scenes of conflict because state control there is limited and both armed groups and military units operate there.
