17 Jul 2004

Tribal fighting in Papua leaves man dead

9:06 am on 17 July 2004

Police and community leaders in the Indonesian province of Papua say another man has been killed in a bow-and-arrow battle, as part of an ongoing tribal conflict.

Police say about a hundred men attacked the man and his brother when they were going to work in the outskirts of the town of Timika yesterday.

The man's brother was seriously injured in the attack and is being treated in a local hospital.

Intermittent clashes between the Damal and Nduga tribes began on Tuesday.

However, a Papuan community leader, Yopi Kilangin, says the latest victims came from a different tribe not involved in the violence.

Community leaders have met with the victims' family and have advised them not to retaliate, Kilangin says.

Police say they're disarming the tribesmen of their traditional weapons and the situation in the area's under control.

Police killed one man and fifty more were wounded in a bow-and-arrow battle between the Damal and Nduga tribes on Thursday.

Four people died and more than 100 were wounded in a related conflict last month.