Indonesian forces recover body of American pilot killed in separatist attack in Papua region
Indonesian security forces have recovered the body of an American pilot killed after armed separatists attacked and set fire to a small aircraft in Indonesia’s remote Papua Highlands region, military officials said.
The pilot, identified as Nicholas F. Goselin, was working for Indonesian airline PT AMA when he was shot dead on Thursday shortly after landing at the Ipdeheik airstrip in Yahukimo regency. Authorities said the aircraft came under attack at the remote mountain airstrip, triggering a security response that later secured the area for recovery operations.
A military commander said a 10-person evacuation team from the Habema Operations Command retrieved the body after securing the site. The airstrip is in a rugged, difficult-to-access area of the Papua Highlands, where communications and transportation links are limited.
The West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video circulated to media, showing fighters raising the Morning Star flag, a symbol of Papuan independence. The group is part of a long-running separatist insurgency in the region.
Contact with the aircraft was lost shortly after the pilot reported landing. Officials said the plane was carrying one pilot and seven passengers, including seven Indigenous Papuan civilians, among them three women. Indonesian military officials said the passengers were unharmed.
Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said the aircraft was operating in an area the group considers restricted and alleged it violated a ban on civilian flights in what it calls its operational territory. He claimed aircraft in the region have been used to transport military personnel and supplies, allegations that could not be independently verified. The Indonesian military denied those claims, saying no troops were on board.
The group said the pilot was targeted despite warnings and called for renewed international negotiations over the Papua conflict, urging involvement from the United Nations and foreign governments. It also warned that additional civilian aircraft could be targeted if they are believed to be supporting military operations.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy.
The incident is the latest in a yearslong pattern of violence in Papua, where separatist attacks have increasingly targeted aviation workers, including foreign pilots. In recent years, a New Zealand pilot was abducted and later released, and another New Zealand pilot was killed after a separate attack on a helicopter in the region.
Papua, a former Dutch colony, was incorporated into Indonesia following a 1969 United Nations–backed process widely disputed by independence supporters, and the region has remained the center of a low-level insurgency ever since.
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