Police said a gang killed at least 26 men, women and children in an attack on three remote villages in Papua New Guinea’s north.
According to James Baugen, a provincial police commander in East Sepik province, the gang, consisting of “30 young men”, which struck earlier this month.
Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday, Baugan said, “It was a very terrible thing. Some of the bodies left in the night were taken by crocodiles into the swamp. We only saw the place where they were killed. There were heads chopped off.”
He added that all houses in the villages were burnt down, with the remaining villagers taking shelter at a police station, too scared to name the perpetrators. The attackers were hiding and there were no arrests yet.
Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, had confirmed that the attacks happened on July 16 and July 18 and were motivated by “a dispute over land and lake ownership and user rights”.
Turk said in a statement on Wednesday that the death toll could surpass 50 as authorities search for missing people. Sixteen children had been killed in the attack, he added, and more than 200 villagers had fled as their homes were torched.
“I am horrified by the shocking eruption of deadly violence in Papua New Guinea,” said the UN rights chief, calling on the authorities “to conduct prompt, impartial and transparent investigations and to ensure those responsible are held to account”.
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