At least 26 people were killed, including 16 children, during attacks by a gang of young men on three Papua New Guinea villages last week, police have said, adding that their houses were torched and other villagers were still missing.
Angoram police station commander Inspector Peter Mandi told reporters on Thursday an unconfirmed number of women and girls were also raped before being killed in the Sepik River villages of Tamara, Tambari, and Angrumara in East Sepik’s Angoram district.
The rapes and massacre were carried out by a group of more than 30 young men from a gang who call themselves “I don’t care”, he said.
“Last Wednesday, on the 17th, the group armed with guns, machetes and wire catapults attacked Angrumara village, burned houses and killed an elderly man and a 5-year-old boy,” he said.
“The next day, they attacked Tambari village, raped women and young girls and then slashed them with machetes, young children were also slashed with the machetes.” He said three people had been confirmed dead on Angrumara and 23 in Tambari, with 16 children among them.
“So far, 26 are confirmed dead from both villages, whilst the villagers who fled are still unaccounted for,” he said. It was unclear when the third village, Tamara, was attacked.
Police have yet to reach the villages, which are located in a remote area that is difficult to access by road. Many of the survivors fled into the surrounding bush.
One survivor of the Tambari massacre who reached the police station in Angoram said that all the homes in their village had been burned to the ground and that villagers had fled with only the clothes on their backs, according to a police statement. Locals feared further attacks by the gang, it said.
Mandi said that police had yet to establish why the gang attacked the villages and called for additional police manpower to arrest its members, all of whom were still at large.
Earlier the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, had said he was “horrified by the shocking eruption of deadly violence in Papua New Guinea, seemingly as the result of a dispute over land and lake ownership and user rights.”
He said the number of dead could rise to more than 50 and called on Papua New Guinea authorities “to conduct prompt, impartial and transparent investigations and to ensure those responsible are held to account. It is also vital that victims and their families receive reparations, including adequate housing, effective protection against further attacks and necessary psychosocial support.”
He urged authorities “to work in and with the affected communities to address the root causes of land and lake disputes, and so prevent recurrence of further violence”.
His comments echoed those made by his office in February calling on Papua New Guinea to address the root causes of escalating tribal violence in the country after dozens were killed in a particularly violent clash between rival tribes.
Conflicts among 17 tribal groups had progressively escalated since elections in 2022 over issues including land disputes and clan rivalries, a spokesperson said at the time.
Clans have fought each other in Papua New Guinea for centuries, but an influx of mercenaries and automatic weapons has inflamed the cycle of violence.
The country’s population has more than doubled since 1980, placing increasing strain on land and resources, and deepening tribal rivalries.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report