American pilot killed as Papua rebels burn small aircraft in Yahukimo

Jakarta,UPDATED: Jul 3, 2026 12:06 IST

Indonesian security forces on Friday recovered the body of an American pilot who was killed after armed separatists 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 on Thursday shortly after landing at the Ipdeheik airstrip in Balinggama village of Yahukimo regency in Papua Highlands. Officials said contact with the airstrip was lost soon after he reported the landing.

Brig Gen Riyanto, deputy commander of the Habema Operations Command, said the evacuation was carried out by 10 personnel after troops secured the remote airstrip in a rapid operation. Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane carried one pilot and seven passengers.

The Indonesian military said the seven passengers were indigenous Papuan civilians, including three women, and that they were unharmed. It also denied rebel claims that the aircraft had been used to transport military personnel. There was no immediate comment from the US Embassy.

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

Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said the aircraft had violated a ban on civilian flights in areas the separatist group considers its operational zones. He alleged that civilian aircraft had been used to move Indonesian military personnel and logistics into remote parts of Papua, and said the American pilot was killed because the aircraft kept operating despite the group's warning. Those claims could not be independently verified.

Sambom also called on Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to open international negotiations to resolve the decades-long conflict in Papua. "The shooting of the American pilot is the result of the failure of the Indonesian, US 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 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 believed were assisting military operations in the region.

The insurgency in Papua between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces has intensified over the past year, with dozens of rebels, security personnel and civilians killed. The rebels have particularly targeted foreign pilots. In February 2023, Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, abducted Philip Mark Mehrtens, a New Zealand pilot from Christchurch working for Susi Air; he was freed in September 2024. In August 2024, TPNPB gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed another New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning of PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, shortly after he landed in a remote village in Mimika district, while several indigenous Papuan passengers were released.

Papua, a former Dutch colony, was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot widely seen as a sham, triggering the long-running conflict that continues to claim lives in the region.

With PTI Inputs

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