Indonesia's army chief vowed Thursday to hunt down separatist rebels after a swell in violence in the restive province of Papua killed two soldiers and three civilians in less than a week.
They will be "chased down" and "cleaned up" by local military units, said Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, a day after gunmen shot a military helicopter in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya, a rebel stronghold and longtime hotbed of separatist violence.
The chopper had flown into the remote region to evacuate Fana Hadi, an army private who was wounded during an attack on his post Tuesday morning.
Gunmen opened fire as it passed a hill, killing Hadi with a shot to his left rib, local military officials said.
That shooting followed the killings of one soldier and three civilians Monday, shot and hacked to death during an ambush on their minibus and taxi near the provincial capital of Jayapura.
Five other people were injured.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the uptick in violence.
Papua is a former Dutch colony on the western part of New Guinea. It was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot.
A small, poorly armed separatist group known as the Free Papua Movement has battled for independence ever since.
Nineteen people were killed in clashes between supporters of rival political candidates in a seemingly unrelated violence Sunday. Because of the violence, elections for district chief scheduled for Nov. 9 will be delayed, local media reported Thursday.