Farouk Arnaz & Banjir Ambarita – A police officer succumbed to his wounds after being found beaten and stabbed in Keerom, Papua, on Tuesday.

Residents found First Brig. Sudirman Atang Sabil clinging to life with serious stab wounds in front of the Pramuka Buper Waena Jayapura building at about 8:30 p.m., two hours after he had left his post at the Keerom district police office.

"He was tortured and he died from loss of blood, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said on Wednesday in Jakarta.

Boy said Sudirman left Keerom at the conclusion of his shift and was headed for Jayapura, the provincial capital. The victim was not wearing his uniform or carrying his service weapon.

"Keerom to Jayapura is a one-hour drive," Boy said. "Residents found him with stab wounds that were about seven centimeters deep and rushed him to Dian Harapan Hospital." He said the officer died about an hour after arriving at the hospital.

Police have yet to establish a possible motive for the stabbing. A joint team from the Keerom district police and the Papua provincial police is investigating.

Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Yohanes Nugroho Wicaksono confirmed that the officer had died of stab wounds. "The victim was stabbed repeatedly, which resulted in heavy bleeding that led to his death," the spokesman said. "We are still investigating the killing and processing the crime scene. The perpetrators are still not known."

Two weeks ago, three people were found stabbed to death in Ndeotadi, in Papua's Paniai district. One of the dead was a member of the Indonesian Military (TNI), but it is not know if the killings are connected.

Like this week's incident, those victims were also discovered by locals. The bodies were found in a shop-house near a gold mine in Ndeotadi that was owned by the dead soldier, Warrant Officer Sunaryo. "Sunaryo was a member of the Paniai district military command, while the two other victims were identified as Aco and Nini," Boy said.