Body of American pilot killed in Indonesian separatist conflict recovered

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian security forces Friday recovered the body of an American pilot who was killed after armed separatist attacked and burned a small aircraft in the restive Papua region, a military commander said.

Nicholas F. Goselin, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT AMA, was shot dead Thursday shortly after he landed at the Ipdeheik airstrip in Balinggama village of the Yahukimo regency in the mountainous province of Papua Highlands.

The evacuation that involved 10 personnel from the Habema Operations Command was carried out after troops secured the remote airstrip in a rapid operation, said Brig. Gen. Riyanto, deputy commander of the operation.

Rebels armed with guns and axes raised the Morning Star flag, a symbol of Papuan independence, as they claimed responsibility for the attack in a video distributed to the media by the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement.

A decades-old insurgency in impoverished Papua between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces has spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed. The rebels have especially targeted foreign pilots.

Contact had been lost with the airstrip shortly after Goselin reported the plane landing. It carried one pilot and seven passengers, Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

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There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy.

Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said the aircraft violated their ban on civilian flights in areas the separatist group considers its operational zones.

He alleged that civilian aircraft have been used to transport Indonesian military personnel and logistics into Papua’s remote interior. He said the American pilot was killed because the aircraft continued operating despite the group’s warning. The claims could not be independently verified.

The Indonesian military denied that the plane was used to carry troops. Those on board were seven indigenous Papuan civilians, including three women. They were unharmed, the military said.

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Sambom called on Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to open international negotiations aimed at resolving the decades-long conflict in Papua, which separatists say has resulted in civilian deaths and mass displacement.

“The shooting of the American pilot is the result of the failure of the Indonesian, U.S. and Dutch governments, as well as the United Nations, to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua, which has persisted for 64 years,” he said in a statement.

He also urged the United Nations to facilitate talks involving the Indonesian government, the TPNPB and Papuan representatives, and warned that the group would target other civilian aircraft it believes are assisting military operations in the region.

In February 2023, Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, abducted Philip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch, New Zealand, who was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air. He was freed in September 2024.

In August 2024, TPNPB gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, who worked for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service. He was shot shortly after landing in a remote village in the Mimika district carrying several indigenous Papuans who were freed.

Papua, a former Dutch colony, was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham, triggering the protracted conflict.