Indonesia recovers bodies of 4 troops killed in Papua clash

By ALFIAN KARTONO and NINIEK KARMINI
Associated Press

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian security forces have recovered the bodies of four government soldiers who were killed in a separatist attack while searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua region. The four elite army troops were killed on Saturday after attackers from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, ambushed 36 government soldiers in Nduga district in the mountainous Papua Highlands province. Papua military spokesman said Thursday that security forces found their bodies on Wednesday, including a body of a soldier who fell into a 49-foot-deep ravine, and were evacuated to a hospital in Timika, a mining city in neighboring Central Papua province.