Liam Cochrane – Free Papua Movement (OPM) military commander Danny Kogoya has died in Papua New Guinea, his family says.

Mr Kogoya was shot by Indonesian security forces during an arrest last year and later had his leg amputated while in custody. He was released, but then threatened with re-arrest and had been hiding in north-west PNG.

A family spokesman says he died on Sunday and the cause is not yet known, and a family friend said his mother and sister have travelled to the town of Vanimo.

They want to bury his body at the same place his amputated leg is buried, within Indonesian-controlled Papua province.

The OPM is a group fighting for West Papuan independence from Indonesia. In July Mr Kogoya spoke to the ABC after his leg had been amputated, where he vowed to return to the jungle to fight against Indonesian rule.

He told the ABC he was unarmed and surrendering when police shot him below the knee last year, and his leg was amputated without his permission while he was jailed on manslaughter charges.

"This leg was amputated for the Free Papua Movement. I am asking for independence... I am asking for West Papua to exit the Republic of Indonesia," he said.

Since the 1960s, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement has conducted a low-level insurgency within Indonesia. Allegations of atrocities committed by Indonesian forces within Papua and West Papua province are difficult to check because the international media is kept out.

It is also hard to get a real sense of the strength of the West Papuan militants. Mr Kogoya told the ABC in July he commanded a standby army of 7,000 men, with around 200 active fighters, but those figures cannot be verified.