27 Villages Burned, 131 Relocated Overnight in Paniai, West Papua. Source: Massive Indonesian offensive displaces thousands in Paniai as helicopters attack and raze villages Wednesday December 14, 2011 SPECIAL REPORT By Nick Chesterfield at West Papua Media, with local sources Thousands of people have reportedly fled in terror from a large area in Paniai, West Papua as a massive combined Police and military offensive attacked villages on December 13, attempting to break armed resistance from pro-independence guerrillas.
Credible human rights sources are claiming up to 20 local people have been shot dead by Indonesian security forces around the jungle centre of Markas Eduda, during a brutal operation that is reported to have razed 26 villages, and caused over 10,000 people to flee to the relative safety of Enaratoli. Urgent text messages were received reporting an attack on Markas Eduda by Brimob and the TNI. According to people in Paniai and those close to sources near Markas Eduda, by 13:30 local time the base had been surrounded by troops.