JAKARTA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Three Indonesian soldiers, 10 rebels and one unidentified person were killed in a fresh clash between 25 soldiers and dozens of rebels in the remote province of Papua, where construction of a highway is underway, the military said on Friday.
A team of soldiers were ambushed and attacked in Nduga district on Thursday by up to 70 rebels, whom Indonesian military called them armed criminals group, carrying military standard weapons and traditional weapons, a military statement said.
"The soldiers fought back until they could push the attackers back into the forest. Three soldiers were killed in the attack. And it was predicted seven to 10 of the armed criminals died, but their corpses were carried away by their rebel fellows," the military said.
The team of soldiers had just arrived in the district in a mission to secure the replacement of soldiers constructing 4,600 kilometers of the Trans-Papua Highway project and 16 bridges, which have been halted after a massacre of at least 17 construction workers by the armed criminals group in December, 2018.
The military has recently deployed a total of 600 soldiers, consisting of 150 combat engineers, to complete the construction.
The armed criminals also opened fires at two military helicopters dispatched to evacuate the soldiers, the military said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has pledged that the construction of the infrastructure projects in the province will persist, albeit the massacre on the construction workers.
Civilians, soldiers and ex-U.S. subsidiary firm PT Freeport Indonesia have been aimed as target by armed groups in Papua province, including the Free Papua Movement of OPM which has been seeking an independent state through guerrilla wars.
