Andrew Mathieson – West Papuan separatists in the occupied territory's eastern region allege eight gold miners they shot and killed on Thursday were undercover members of Indonesian security forces.
The eight men were attacked working in the far-flung village of Korowai in the province of Highland Papua that borders Papua New Guinea.
Indonesian military Lieutenant Colonel M Wirya Arthadiguna said the deceased victims were "civilians panning for gold in the area" before gunmen killed the gold traders on the spot.
"Those eight individuals were civilians – not security personnel, as alleged," he said in a media statement on Friday.
The military later claimed it had "taken out" the West Papuan fighters, not clarifying whether that meant the rebels had been captured or killed.
Lt Col Arthadiguna also said the military had deployed teams to track down the shooters amid the process of evacuating the victims' bodies by helicopter.
"We are preparing victim evacuation with combined personnel and helicopter support to reach the remote location," he said.
However, the West Papua National Liberation Army disputed the claim the men were civilians, saying it had in fact carried out a "cleansing operation" against "soldiers (and/or) police officers disguised as illegal gold miners".
West Papua National Liberation Army spokesman Sebby Sambom said the operation was in retaliation for the deaths of two of its members at the hands of the military in the province last week.
"These are agents of TNI-Polri intelligence," he said via a WhatsApp voice message to media.
"We always find evidence of pistols and walkie-talkies in their bags."
Separatists killed 11 gold miners last year in the same province, according to the Indonesian military, in another case in which the targets were accused of being undercover soldiers.
This occurred against a backdrop of Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights investigating the killing of more than a dozen West Papuan civilians, including elderly people, women and children, during an Indonesian military operation last week in another West Papuan village.
The Indonesian military had launched a wide-ranging operation to capture armed rebels from an insurgency group accused of shooting the gold miners.
Mr Sambom maintained that the West Papuan rebels had strong reasons to be suspicious around gold panning.
They deemed that the miners were – at the very least – collaborators of Indonesian forces in power, who have been damaging the Papuan natural ecosystem for years.
"They are stealing our natural resources," Mr Sambom added.
The West Papua National Liberation Army has repeatedly called on the Indonesian government to stop sending military personnel to the territory in disguise, alleging they have been disguised as taxi drivers as well as miners.
Over the past five previous recorded years, 34 panners have reportedly been killed by the rebels.
Papuan human-rights activist Yoseph Tomarubun said the victims on Thursday were not Indigenous Papuan civilians.
Gold mining at Korowai and the nearby Fis River are both arduous and dangerous, accessible only by helicopter and often financed by external backers, Mr Tomarubun added, which appears to partly substantiate the claims of the West Papuan National Liberation Army.
Korowai residents still live traditionally and rely on the forest predominantly for food, Mr Tomarubun underlining that the locals rarely engage in commercial mining.
Environmental and rights groups say the broader Korowai area spans multiple regencies of the Highland Papua province, creating a large, sparsely populated swath that is difficult for security forces to patrol.
The area has seen an upsurge in illegal gold-mining activities since 2017, attracting migrant miners and organised operators, who defy security risks, lured by the rich alluvial deposits.
After the attacks, the Yahukimo regency in which Korowai is located was under control through increased security patrols, but still remained dangerous in the following days.
Resource-rich West Papua, who is home to the world's second-largest gold and copper mine, has been home to an armed separatist movement since it was brought under Indonesian control following a 1969 vote overseen by the United Nations.