Agencies, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights said Sunday it was investigating the killings of 12 civilians, including women and children, in a military operation in the restive Papua region.
The commission said at least 12 civilians died of gunshot wounds when the armed forces carried out "an enforcement operation" on Tuesday against a rebel group in the central Papuan village of Kembru.
Several other people were wounded.
Commission chairperson Anis Hidayah told AFP there was a "strong suspicion" that Indonesian soldiers may be responsible for the civilian deaths.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Aulia Dwi Nasrullah said in a statement that four rebel fighters had been "neutralised" in Kembru, without mentioning the civilian deaths.
The statement added that the armed forces were looking into reports of a child killed by gunshot wounds in another village, saying "there was no involvement" of Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers in that incident.
The rights commission, an official but independent body, said that any operation that results in civilian casualties "cannot be justified on any grounds".
"Any form of attack against civilians... constitutes a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law," the commission said in a statement on Saturday.
It urged restraint from all sides and called on the military to re-evaluate its operations against Papuan rebels.
The Papuan rebel group said 12 civilians had been killed by military operations.
TNI's Habema taskforce carried out an operation on April 14 in Puncak region after receiving reports from civilians about the presence of rebels in their village, taskforce spokesperson Lt. Col. Wirya Arthadiguna told Reuters.
Four rebels were killed during the operation in Kembru village, and there was a report of a child dying from a gunshot during an unrelated incident in a nearby village, Wirya said.
"No military personnel were present at that village at the time of the shooting of the child, and the two incidents took place at different locations and times and are not connected," he said.