{"id":776891,"date":"2026-07-03T17:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T17:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/776891\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T17:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T17:34:13","slug":"video-shows-indonesian-military-recovering-body-of-us-pilot-killed-in-papua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/776891\/","title":{"rendered":"Video shows Indonesian military recovering body of US pilot killed in Papua"},"content":{"rendered":"

A video obtained by the ABC shows a dramatic operation by the Indonesian military to recover the body of an American pilot, shot dead by Papuan separatists in the restive province of the Papua Highlands.<\/p>\n

Warning: This story contains a blurred image of a deceased person and details of a killing.<\/p>\n

American pilot Nicholas F Goselin was shot and killed<\/a> on Thursday, in a killing the West Papua Liberation Movement said the United States was “pay[ing] for the mistake of failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua”.<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/p>\n

Indonesian military said they will take the body of US pilot Nicholas F Goselin to the US embassy. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

In a statement released on Thursday, West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) spokesperson Sebby Sambom said the group killed Mr Goselin because the aircraft and pilot had violated an ultimatum banning flights into areas the group considered operational zones.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) said it carried out a “rapid seizure” of the pilot’s body on Friday, involving 10 personnel.<\/p>\n

Vision of the operation shows TNI special forces flying over the Papuan highlands in a helicopter, before landing and retrieving Mr Goselin’s body.<\/p>\n

“We saw ourself that TPNPB cruelly killed innocent people, we condemn this action,” Lieutenant General Lucky Avianto said.<\/p>\n

“We express condolences for his death.”<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/p>\n

The Indonesian Armed Forces carried recovered the body of US pilot Nicholas F Goselin, after he was killed by West Papuan separatists. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Rare look at Indonesian military in Papua<\/p>\n

Indonesia’s military said the pilot’s body would be taken to Jakarta and handed over to the American Embassy.<\/p>\n

The US Department of State is investigating and is in touch with Indonesian authorities.<\/p>\n

The vision, filmed by a local TV camera crew, was a rare look at an Indonesian military operation inside the interior of Papua.<\/p>\n

Papua rebels shoot dead US pilot<\/a><\/p>\n

A Papua separatist group has shot dead an American pilot who allegedly transported Indonesian troops into the restive province.<\/p>\n

Mr Goselin was killed and the small aircraft burned in the Yahukimo regency, within a mountainous remote area of the Papua Highlands.<\/p>\n

Contact was lost with the airstrip shortly after Mr Goselin reported the plane landing.<\/p>\n

Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the aircraft was carrying the pilot and seven passengers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Papua separatists posted photos showing the site where they killed an American pilot and set fire to his plane in the restive region. Supplied: Facebook (Supplied: Facebook)<\/p>\n

Images released by the TPNPB show the charred remains of the aircraft, with a Papuan separatist fighter posing next to it.<\/p>\n

“We had issued an ultimatum prohibiting all civilian aircraft from entering the TPNPB region \u2026 operational areas,” Sebby Sambom said.<\/p>\n

“Civilian aircraft continue to drop Indonesian military troops and logistics into the Papuan interior to conduct military operations that have killed many indigenous Papuan civilians.<\/p>\n

“The shooting of the American pilot is to pay for a mistake by the Indonesian, United States of America, Dutch government and UN for failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papua Liberation Army.”<\/p>\n

The Indonesian military has denied that the plane was used to carry troops.<\/p>\n

Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Djamari Chaniago, said he condemned the attack.<\/p>\n

“[The ministry] reaffirmed that the government of Indonesia will not tolerate any form of violence or heinous acts against civilians or against air transportation infrastructure,” the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n

PNG calls for ‘buffer zone’ with Indonesia<\/a><\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea has raised concerns over its border with Indonesia, calling for the establishment of a new 10km “buffer zone” between the two countries.<\/p>\n

“The ministry will continue to support a thorough investigation and firm law enforcement measures by the TNI and police against those responsible.”<\/p>\n

Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director described the killing as a “tragic and profound violation of human rights”.<\/p>\n

“The deliberate murder of a civilian pilot and the subsequent burning of his aircraft represent a stark deterioration of civilian protection in the Papua region,” executive director Usman Hamid said.<\/p>\n

“All parties to the conflict in Papua must send a clear message to those they lead that any unlawful attacks against everyday people are not acceptable.”<\/p>\n

Dozens killed in past year<\/p>\n

Papuan separatists have been involved in a low-level conflict against Indonesian security forces, as part of a decades-long struggle for independence in the resource-rich territory of Papua.<\/p>\n

That conflict has surged over the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.<\/p>\n

Foreigners, too, have been caught up in the conflict.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Mr Goselin was killed and the small aircraft burned in a mountainous remote area of the Papua Highlands.<\/p>\n

In early 2023, New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, who was flying for an Indonesian aviation company, was kidnapped by Papuan rebels and held for around 18 months.<\/p>\n

A separate New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, was killed after landing in a remote village.<\/p>\n

In May last year, Human Rights Watch said an escalation of fighting was seriously threatening the security of Papua’s largely indigenous population.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Monitor, an NGO, said as of June this year more than 120,000 Papuans across multiple regencies were internally displaced due to military operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A video obtained by the ABC shows a dramatic operation by the Indonesian military to recover the body…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,4805,44,368389,205790,368388,41,39,42,40,260000,368390],"class_list":["post-776891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-indonesia","tag-news","tag-nicholas-f-goselin","tag-papua","tag-papua-highlands","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-west-papua","tag-west-papua-national-liberation-army"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}