An unidentified man hurled a Molotov cocktail at the regional office of Indonesia's top rights body in restive Papua, the latest of a series of attacks targeting rights defenders and journalists in the Christian-majority region.
The attacker hurled the bomb at the parking area of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM)'s office at Soasio Street in North Jayapura district on Sept. 9, according to local sources.
The office staff was in a meeting at the time of the attack. The bomb did not explode, and no damage to the building was reported, police said.
The commission's Papua office head, Frits Ramandey, said police collected fragments of glass, a wick, and a broken bottle with gasoline from the site.
"It was deliberately thrown toward several motorcycles so the bottle would break and catch fire," Ramandey said, describing the incident as an act of terror against the rights body.
Jayapura city police chief Fredrickus W. A. Maclarimboen said officers visited the scene shortly after it was reported and conducted an initial crime scene investigation. He said police have been collecting other evidence and CCTV footage to identify the attacker.
This is the latest of a series of attacks targeting rights defenders and journalists in a region where the military and armed separatists have been engaged in a bloody conflict for decades. Thousands have been killed and displaced by the conflict in the Christian-majority region.
In recent years, a number of suspected terror attacks targeted rights activists, lawyers, tribal leaders, and journalists as the fighting intensified.
On Oct. 16, 2024, two unidentified men riding a motorcycle hurled Molotov cocktails at the office of Jubi, an independent media outlet in Jayapura known for reporting on human rights and environmental issues. The attack damaged two vehicles, but no casualties were reported.
On Jan. 23, 2023, a bomb exploded three meters from the home of Jubi's co-founder, Victor Mambor. He and his family members were unharmed.
Earlier, Mambor's car was vandalized in April 2021, and he faced digital attacks, including doxing, hacking, and online harassment.
Last year, at least 104 rights defenders were targeted in 54 incidents, with most targets being tribal land rights advocates and journalists, according to Amnesty International.
The group named the police as the perpetrators in many cases, followed by private companies, military personnel, government, and public officials.
Emanuel Gobay, director of the Papua Legal Aid Institute, condemned the attack and said it should be treated as part of a broader pattern of terror against human rights defenders in Papua.
Gobay told UCA News that his office was also hit by a Molotov attack in 2023.
The latest "attack was carried out in broad daylight, which shows the state's inability to protect human rights enforcement. We must know what the motive was and who was behind the attack," he added.
The attack might be linked to the commission's ongoing work on high-profile cases of alleged rights abuses in Maybrat, Dogiyai, Puncak and Intan Jaya, activists say.