Jakarta – Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a police officer in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, state media reported Tuesday.

The incident took place Monday while the officer was on patrol in Puncak Jaya district, Papua police spokesman Wachyono said, according to the Antara news agency.

The victim, identified as Brigadier Agus Suhendra, died after being shot from a distance of approximately 3.5 metres, Wachyono said.

It was the latest of a series incident in Papua in recent months. Police suspected the separatist Papua Free Movement, which have been sporadically fighting Indonesian rule since the region came under Jakarta's control in the early 1960s.

The predominantly ethnic Melanesian and Christian province was a Dutch colony that Indonesia invaded in 1961.

The United Nations intervened, and Papua was handed to Indonesia in 1962. It formally became part of Indonesia seven years later after a referendum that Jakarta was accused of manipulating.

The central government restricts visits by foreign journalists to Papua.