PNG police hunt ‘local terrorists’ after officers mutilated, killed
2025.01.19
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea police are hunting an armed gang in the Southern Highlands after four of their colleagues were attacked last week leaving one shot dead and two “chopped up.”
Violence has wracked the country since the New Year including nine people killed in Enga and the butchered remains of a man in Central Province paraded as trophies in a video on social media.
Another police officer was shot and killed in neighboring Hela Province just before Christmas.
The latest violence came as Prime Minister James Marape appealed for calm and respect for the law as the Pacific nation marks its 50th year of independence.
Acting assistant commissioner of police and commander of the Highlands Western special policing zone, Joseph Tondop, condemned those who attacked the police last week as “enemies of the state” and “local terrorists.”
“It is becoming a trend now for criminals in the Upper Highlands to shoot at or kill policemen at will and, this time, I will not take it easy,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

Last Tuesday evening, a police vehicle with four officers and three civilians on board was stopped en-route from Tari in the Southern Highlands to Enga at a roadblock on the highway near Mendi.
Tondop said the gang shot dead constable Noah Biape who was driving, a civilian took the wheel but the vehicle crashed, rolled several times and was set upon by the gang.
After an exchange of gunfire, two policemen were overpowered, disarmed and “chopped up.”
The fourth officer escaped into the bushes with the civilians and they were rescued by local villagers the next day.
“The person who pulled the trigger killing an innocent police officer whilst on duty is not just a criminal but an enemy to the state,” Tondop said.
“I classify them as local terrorists, including the citizens and leaders who do not cooperate in identifying the local terrorists involved in the attack,” he said, appealing to Timipa villagers in the Southern Highlands near the scene of the attack.
The two policemen were taken in a critical condition to the Mendi hospital, along with two alleged assailants who were admitted with gunshot wounds.
“I have had enough of this and will hunt down these terrorists,” Tondop said.
“I will order all members of the security force to immediately launch a man hunt within that entire region.”
Tondop on Sunday told BenarNews four members of the group known to police have until Monday to surrender or face the consequences, after they ignored his previous ultimatum to hand themselves in by last Friday.
“I will apply the full force of the law to demonstrate the state's authority over its citizens,” Tondop said.
He also praised local villagers who had been working with local police and arranged the recovery of two police firearms but not the ammunition.

The incident occurred as Marape released a statement last Tuesday condemning the violence and graphic video from Goilala, Central Province, 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Port Moresby.
“No one has the right to take the law into their own hands,” he said, calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.
“We are a Christian nation, and our faith teaches us to resolve conflicts peacefully. Revenge and violence only bring more suffering.”
In the past week, fresh unrest and reports of a “complete breakdown” of law and order at the Porgera gold mine in Enga Province have stoked fears about the project’s future and dire economic consequences on the PNG economy.
More than 100 people were killed in fighting in Enga alone in the past year despite a state of emergency, with dozens more dead in tribal violence across the country.
Marape last week acknowledged that police resources remain limited in some areas.
In 2019, shortly after Marape took office, tribal violence in his Hela Province electorate left 22 dead. He called it the “saddest day of his life” and vowed action, saying “time is up.”
The nation of about 11 million people has suffered from a lack of police officers since independence. Last month Marape’s office said there was “one policeman serving every 1600 people in PNG when the average global ratio is one policeman to 450 people.”
In this year's budget, the PNG government allocated more money for police and security forces, earmarking US$170 million [703 million kina], and last week launched a recruitment campaign for more officers.
In November, Parliament unanimously passed a new counter-terrorism bill aimed at empowering law enforcement agencies to combat growing lawlessness, including tribal violence.
At the time, Marape described it as “a monumental, milestone law” to help arrest law and order challenges.
With contributions from Sue Ahearn in Melbourne and Stefan Armbruster in Brisbane.