JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A Papua separatist group said Thursday it shot dead an American pilot who allegedly transported Indonesian troops into the restive province.
A spokesman for the West Papua Liberation Army, or TPNPB, said its fighters fatally shot Nicholas F. Goselin and set fire to an aircraft operated by PT AMA, an Indonesian airline, in Balinggama village.
The plane was carrying one pilot and seven passengers, Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. After the pilot reported that the aircraft had landed, communications with personnel at the airstrip were subsequently lost, the ministry said in a statement.