Death Toll Hits 64 In Papua New Guinea Tribal Violence
Papua New Guinea’s remote highlands witnessed a harrowing event as police revealed the recovery of sixty-four bloodied bodies along a road, indicating a chilling escalation in the persistent violence between local warring tribes, as announced on Monday.
Naija News gathered that the victims were to be tribal fighters whom a rival group ambushed in the early hours of Sunday.
The incident took place near the town of Wabag, situated approximately 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby, in a rugged and lawless area that has long been the setting for tit-for-tat mass killings involving rival tribes such as Sikin, Ambulin, Kaekin, and others.
Graphic police images from the scene depicted stripped and bloodied bodies strewn along the roadside and stacked on the back of a flatbed truck, with some men bearing hacked limbs and left naked by the road, while beer bottles or cans were placed on their chests.
According to police statements on Monday, ongoing gunfights were observed in nearby valleys, while authorities continued to recover bodies from the bushland adjacent to the road.
“We believe there are still some bodies… out there in the bush,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Samson Kua said.
Acting police commander Patrick Peka of the province stated that many of the deceased were suspected mercenaries, individuals who travel the countryside offering assistance to tribes in settling scores with their adversaries.
“The police and government cannot do much when leaders and educated elites supply arms and ammunitions and engage the services of gunmen from other parts of the province,” Peka said.
Papua New Guinea’s government has attempted various strategies, including suppression, mediation, gun amnesties, and others, to curb the violence, but with minimal success.
Despite deploying approximately 100 troops to the region, the military’s influence has been constrained, and the security forces continue to be outnumbered and outgunned.
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