At least 26 combatants and an unconfirmed number of bystanders were killed in a gunbattle between warring tribes in Papua New Guinea, police said Monday.
A tribe, their allies and mercenaries were on their way to attack a neighboring tribe when they were ambushed Sunday in Enga province in the South Pacific nation's remote highlands, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Acting Superintendent George Kakas said.
At least 26 combatants and an unconfirmed number of bystanders were killed in a gunbattle between warring tribes in Papua New Guinea, police said Monday.
A tribe, their allies and mercenaries were on their way to attack a neighboring tribe when they were ambushed Sunday in Enga province in the South Pacific nation's remote highlands, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Acting Superintendent George Kakas said.
Police Commissioner David Manning later described the clash as a 바카라gunbattle between warring tribes바카라. An unconfirmed number of villagers also were killed. Police reinforcements were sent to the scene of the battle, Manning said.
바카라At this point, it's not clear exactly how far we have moved into the conflict there,바카라 Manning told Australian Broadcasting Corp. 바카라But the intent is to regain control or have a significant presence in that conflict area and then work...our way through our procedures in dealing with this type of incident.바카라
Kakas initially said 53 combatants had died. But security forces later revised the death toll down to 26.
Bodies were collected from the battlefield, roads and the riverside, then loaded onto police trucks and taken to the hospital. Authorities were still counting 바카라those who were shot, injured and ran off into the bushes," Kakas said.
Papua New Guinea is a diverse nation of 10 million mostly subsistence farmers speaking 800 languages. Internal security has become an increasing challenge for its government as China, the United States and Australia seek closer security ties to the country in a strategically important part of the South Pacific.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government was ready to assist Papua New Guinea, which is Australia's nearest neighbour and the largest single recipient of Australian foreign aid.
바카라That is very disturbing the news that has come out of Papua New Guinea,바카라 Albanese said before the death toll was revised down.
바카라We remain available to provide whatever support we can in a practical way, of course, to help our friends in PNG,바카라 Albanese added.
Albanese said Australia was already providing 바카라considerable support바카라 for Papua New Guinea and was helping train the country's police officers.
Tribal violence in the Enga region has intensified since elections in 2022 that maintained Prime Minister James Marape's administration. Elections and accompanying allegations of cheating and process anomalies have always triggered violence throughout the country.
Enga Gov Peter Ipatas said there were warnings that tribal fighting was about to erupt.
바카라From a provincial perspective, we knew this fight was going to be on and we (alerted) the security forces last week to make sure they took appropriate action to ensure this didn't occur,바카라 Ipatas said.
Ipatas described the violence as a "very, very sad occasion for us in the province and it's a bad thing for the country바카라.
Scores of people have died in tribal fighting in the Enga region in the past year.
Port Moresby's Post-Courier newspaper has reported that high-powered firearms used in the recent fighting made it risky for police to enter the battlefields.
Police said they were assisted by the military in protecting the general public and government property.
Papua New Guinea government lawyer Oliver Nobetau expected more lives would be lost in retaliation for the massacre.
바카라There's a big concern that this will continue on. Revenge killings tend to be a normal thing that happens,바카라 said Nobetau, who is on temporary assignment to the Sydney-based international policy think tank Lowy Institute.
바카라Tribal violence is something that happens commonly, but never to this scale,바카라 Nobetau added. His comments related to the higher death toll, but he later said they still applied to the revised toll of 26.
Police had limited resources to deal with such violence on a 바카라massive scale,바카라 Nobetau said.
바카라Tribal violence is something that is prevalent and the government with its limited resources will try to deploy the police wherever they can to try to curb the security issues,바카라 he said. (AP) SCY
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