Performers in conventional costumes stand in entrance of Parliament Home in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea – File photograph | Picture credit score: AP
A minimum of 26 folks have been killed by a gang in three distant villages in northern Papua New Guinea, the United Nations and police officers stated.
“It was a horrible factor. Once I approached the realm, I noticed that there have been kids, women and men. They had been killed by a gaggle of 30 youths,” stated James Baugen, appearing provincial police commander within the South Pacific island nation’s East Sepik province. Australian Broadcasting Company. on July twenty sixth.
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Mr. Baugen stated to the ABC that each one the homes within the villages had been burned down and the remaining inhabitants had been taking refuge in a police station, too scared to call the perpetrators.
“Among the our bodies that had been left behind throughout the evening had been dragged by crocodiles into the swamp. We solely noticed the place the place they had been killed. There have been severed heads,” Baugen stated, including that the attackers had been in hiding and that no arrests had but been made.
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UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk stated in a press release on July 24 that the assaults occurred on July 16 and 18.
“I’m horrified by the stunning outbreak of lethal violence in Papua New Guinea, apparently ensuing from a dispute over land and lake possession and utilization rights,” Turk stated.
“A minimum of 26 folks had been reported useless, together with 16 kids. This quantity may rise to greater than 50 as native authorities are looking for lacking folks. As well as, greater than 200 villagers fled when their houses had been set on hearth,” Turk stated.