An offer to surrender, answered with gunfire: two of Manfret Fatem's executioners died in the Maybrat forest

They were offered a way out before a shot was fired. A joint Indonesian military force had monitored the armed group from a distance. When it moved towards homes in Aifat district, Maybrat regency, Southwest Papua, the troops issued a warning: surrender and lay down your weapons. The response was gunfire.

According to the Commander of the Joint Defense Region III Command, Lieutenant General TNI Lucky Avianto, Manfret Fatem was the first to rain live bullets on the troops, and all his members followed suit. Gunfire occurred in the forest, Saturday evening, October 3, 2026. When the shooting stopped, two people from their side were dead. Not a single soldier was injured. [2]

Two commanders were killed: Arso Aisnak, who the Indonesian military (TNI) said was the Commander of Defense Area Command II Kodap IV Sorong Raya, and Yohanes KY, Commander of the Karef Hamit Battalion in the same Kodap. Manfret Fatem himself, a name that had been on the wanted list for years, fled with the rest of his members into the forest. The explanation released by their organization a few hours later actually confirmed who they were: TPNP-OPM spokesperson, Sebby Sambom, called Arso Aisnak the "Operation Commander of the Crocodile Battalion, Major Arso Aisnak", and announced national mourning over the deaths of the two. [23]

Night in the Aifat forest

The existence of the group was read first. According to Lt. Gen. Lucky Avianto, their movements were known from the results of monitoring by the State Intelligence Agency, which found that the TPNPB-OPM Kodap IV Sorong Raya group was about to enter residential areas of Aifat District residents. Based on these findings, the joint units moved: Rajawali V Task Force Koops Habema, Marine Infantry Battalion Task Force, reinforced by Infantry Battalion 764/I B, all under the control of Kogabwilhan III. [2]

What happened next was a sequence that is rarely recorded in news reports about the armed conflict in Papua: the authorities monitored first, then appealed, and only responded after being shot at. "Before armed contact occurred, our troops first made persuasive efforts, asking them to surrender and lay down their weapons," said Lucky. "However, they answered the call from this member by firing live bullets indiscriminately at the Indonesian military (TNI) Task Force troops." [5]

"Manfred Fatem was the first to shower our troops with live bullets, then followed by all members of the TPNPB-OPM Kodap IV Sorong Jaya," he said. In the same statement he summed up the results: "Thank God, thanks to the protection of Almighty God, our entire troops are safe." [5]

Head of Information for the Habema TNI Koops, Infantry Lieutenant Colonel M. Wirya Arthadiguna, explained that the action was part of a routine area control patrol. He called the existence of the armed group a citizen's problem, not just a problem for the authorities: "Control of this area is part of the Indonesian military (TNI)'s ongoing efforts to maintain public security, protect residents, and create conditions that are safe and conducive to development in the Papua region." [7]

What is left at the location

After the shooting stopped, officers combed the location and seized a number of items. From the written statement of the Habema TNI Koops: one revolver type firearm, ten rounds of ammunition, one handheld radio unit, a Morning Star flag, and a number of supporting equipment. The Commander of Kogabwilhan III detailed it in more detail: a revolver and bullets, dozens of automatic machine gun ammunition, several sharp weapon blades, communication equipment, and two Morning Star flags. [7] [9]

The list is important not because of its numbers, but because of what it says. A group carrying firearms, ammunition, sharp weapons and two flags is not heading to the negotiating table. They were heading towards a residential area, at night, in an area that had twice been the site of attacks on security posts. [1]

The chase isn't over yet. Lucky stated that his troops were continuing to hunt down Manfret Fatem and his remaining members, "to capture them dead or alive", for reasons he said were clear: "so that crimes against humanity, including rape, abuse, robbery, murder, no longer occur in Papua, especially in Sorong, Southwest Papua." He also sent a warning to all TPNPB-OPM members wherever they were: "TNI-Polri together with all law enforcement officers will continue to pursue and arrest all perpetrators of crimes against humanity in the Land of Papua, whether alive or dead." [2] [12]

Two names, two lists

Yohanes KY is not a new name for investigators. On April 23, 2026, the Southwest Papua Regional Police named him a suspect and put his name on the wanted list on suspicion of premeditated murder and confiscation of firearms belonging to members of the Gobang VII Task Force. Two Indonesian Navy soldiers died in the incident, and another was seriously injured. This determination followed the attack on the post in Sori Village on 21-22 March 2026, which was claimed by the TPNPB-OPM Kodap IV Sorong Raya, including the two weapons they seized. [28]

Arso Aisnak appeared in the news as one of two people whom the Commander of Kogabwilhan III called the "death duet, aka executioner pair" and "always the executioner of every crime" of the group. The attribution was general: Lucky named categories of crimes, not dated events with victims' names. What can be checked from the news is this: his name appears with the same group, in the same area, in a series of repeated events. [1] [11]

Notes regarding surnames need to be placed carefully. In the wanted list for the murder of four Trans-Papua road workers on the Bintuni-Maybrat route in 2022, and in the case of the shooting of two Marine soldiers in April 2026, the police included the names of those with the surname Aisnak. However, none of those names is Arso Aisnak. What we have included here is only what is actually written on the list: Yohanes KY as a suspect and fugitive since April 2026. [28] [30]

Manfret Fatem and a list that never ends

The name Manfret Fatem has long been attached to violence in western Papua. In December 2020, the police named him a fugitive in the murder case of a civilian with the initials OA in East Aifat District. In this case, the circulation of the photo shows something that does not need to be discussed here: the perpetrator took a photo with the dead victim. [31] [32]

In the early hours of September 2, 2021, the Kisor Preparatory Koramil Post in Maybrat Regency was attacked. Four TNI Army soldiers died, two were injured. The police have named 17 people on the wanted list. A year later, 29 September 2022, four of the fourteen workers on the Trans-Papua West Road project on the Bintuni-Maybrat route were murdered. Police released the faces of twelve people they were looking for. On December 25, 2023, while other people were celebrating Christmas, the Yonif 133/Yudha Sakti Task Force post was attacked; Kopda Hendrianto died from a gunshot wound to the head, and Private Frangky Gula was seriously injured. [30] [31]

2026 will be no different. Last March the post in Sori Village was attacked, two Indonesian Navy soldiers were killed, and the group announced its success in seizing two weapons. Last April seven people, including Manfret Fatem, were named suspects and fugitives; dozens of Brimob personnel were deployed to hunt them down. Six months later, he was again involved in gunfire and ran away again. [28] [29]

What should be noted from a list that long is not the numbers, but the pattern. This group attacked officials, killed civilian workers who were building roads, killed on religious holidays, then announced demands to be recognized as a negotiating party. In each incident, they shot first and left the scene first. [1]

What they left behind in their own villages

There's a rarely quoted part of this group's history: the people themselves quit. On May 13, 2024, thirty Maybrat residents who joined the group led by Manfret Fatem surrendered themselves back to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. The confession they conveyed to the authorities was not one that would make their group proud: they admitted that they joined because they were intimidated by weapons. [25]

The pattern repeats itself. On 25-26 June 2026, ten members of Kodap IV Sorong Raya returned to the Republic of Indonesia and handed over six weapons; Other reports put the number at 37 people if families are counted. On August 16, 2026, a group leader in Sorong Raya surrendered himself to the Indonesian military (TNI) post in Maybrat. Several days before the armed clash in Aifat, the authorities also handed over six members and sympathizers of armed groups from other Kodap because they chose to return to the Republic of Indonesia. [26] [27] [43]

On the other hand there are images that never appear in armed group press releases. At the end of September 2026, the National Human Rights Commission facilitated the repatriation of dozens of women and children from Maybrat Regency who had been displaced in the forest for approximately six years due to conflict. They were handed over to the regional government, witnessed by the police and TNI. Head of the Papua Representative Office of Komnas HAM, Frits Ramandey, who led the process, made a simple and strong request at the same time: "We ask that they not be intimidated by the police or army and be treated humanely." [17] [19]

So in the same week that Manfret Fatem's two executioners were killed, there was a family that had just finished enduring six years of fear. The two stories came from the same district, from the same forest, and only one of them made it into their press release. [18]

Claims that come later

The following day, TPNPB-OPM published Central Headquarters Management's third press release which was signed by its spokesperson, Sebby Sambom. It contained: national mourning, claims that the authorities attacked first, claims that one of the victims was hit by a bomb dropped by a drone and then captured alive and died after being tortured in the authorities' car, claims that the bodies of the two members were still in the hands of the authorities, denials that they had confiscated their weapons, and claims that residents in two villages were traumatized. [23] [24]

One by one the claims need to be seen as claims, not as information. There is no independent verification of the allegations of torture, no confirmation by the authorities regarding their version of the chronology, and no institutional reports that can be examined. The spokesperson who conveyed it was also not a clean source of similar accounts: in our search for his statements throughout 2018-2026, several of his big claims were later changed or denied, including about the number of victims and about the status of people he called spies. [23]

Their version of why the two commanders were outside the headquarters is also worth noting as it is: according to reports citing their press release, the two of them moved from the headquarters to a location where there was a telephone and internet network to communicate. The group members carrying revolvers, dozens of ammunition, several sharp weapons, communication radios and two Morning Star flags could indeed be anywhere. What that version cannot explain is why the first shots fired at the oncoming troops gave the option of surrender. [22]

What the state says

Commander of TNI Habema Koops, Brigadier General TNI Riyanto, put the results of the operation as field work while also providing clear boundaries on how to act: "This success is the result of the hard work and synergy of all soldiers serving in the field. However, we still place human values ​​as the main guideline in every step of the operation. Every life has value." [13]

He also repeated that the door is always open, and has been proven by dozens of people from the same group: "There is still room open for our brothers and sisters who want to return to the fold of the Republic of Indonesia. Let's work together to develop Papua through peace, unity and togetherness." The sentence is not empty rhetoric: in 2024 there were thirty people who used it, and in June 2026 another ten. [7] [13]

From the regional government, Southwest Papua Governor Elisa Kambu expressed full support for the Indonesian military (TNI) and Polri to take firm and measurable action according to the law against armed groups. The chairman of the Southwest Papua People's Council, Alfons Kambu, asked TPNPB-OPM members in the region to stop armed activities and surrender themselves, within a deadline he himself stated. These two statements are important because they come from within the region, not from Jakarta. [20] [21]

Same week elsewhere

Aifat was not the only place where armed groups encountered authorities that month. In the early hours of 25 September 2026, four members of the armed group were killed in a gunfight with Timsus Battalion 315 Garuda and the Taipur Koops TNI Habema Team in Upper Balamai Village, Intan Jaya; The authorities said that one of them was Hermanus Hogajau, regional commander of Kodap III Balamai Dulla, and two other bodies reportedly fell into a ravine. The identities of the four were only announced four days later. [37] [38] [39]

The same pattern is also visible on the reverse side. In Teluk Bintuni Regency, 37 members of the armed group returned to the Republic of Indonesia after being approached by TNI units there. In Moscow, plans to repatriate refugees are hampered by the trauma experienced by residents after years of living on the move. The Army Chief of Staff on September 11 stated that armed groups in Papua were starting to become anxious because their space for movement was narrowing. Those who are anxious can shoot first, and that is what happened in Aifat. [40] [41]

For residents in these districts, the choices available are few and unchanged: live with the trauma, flee to the forest like the Maybrat family who have just returned home after six years, or hope that the authorities will quickly find the group that shot them. In 2026, reports about internal refugees in Papua will have become a number calculated by monitoring agencies, no longer a peripheral record. [18] [41]

Unanswered

There are three things that are not yet resolved from this incident. First, Manfret Fatem has not been caught, and as long as he is out, the same pattern could repeat itself. Second, the bodies of two of its members are still a problem; The family asked for handover through the church, while the authorities have not provided details. Third, the accusations of torture and drone bombs made by the group have not been checked by anyone outside the group itself, and should not be believed simply because they are repeated by many media outlets. [23]

On the authorities' side, there is also a case that is still ongoing and needs to be noted because this site does not choose where its honesty will go. On September 26, 2026, a legal aid organization reported the alleged confinement and torture of a state civil servant at the Kampung Aisa Marine Post, Maybrat Regency. Police said they were still investigating. To this day there has been no verdict, no suspect, and no detailed official statement; therefore we list it as an ongoing matter, not as a proven fact. [34] [35] [36]

What is clear is what happened that night in the Aifat forest: an armed group was given the choice to lay down its weapons, choose to shoot, and lost two of its commanders. No soldiers were injured. If not for one thing, this news would have ended there.

Six things to remember

First, the order. The officers monitored first, warned first, and shot after being shot at. This was recorded in the statement of the Commander of Kogabwilhan III and corroborated by the statement of the Indonesian military (TNI) Military Command Commander Habema. [2]

Second, who died. Arso Aisnak and Yohanes KY are not young men who got lost in the forest. Both are commanders at Kodap IV Sorong Raya; Yohanes KY has had suspect and fugitive status since April 2026 for the premeditated murder of two Indonesian Navy soldiers. [28]

Third, who goes. Manfret Fatem left the location with the rest of the members, as he had left every previous location.

Fourth, the evidence. One revolver, ammunition, radio, sharp weapons, and two Morning Star flags. Not the kind of thing people who are looking for a peace deal would bring. [7] [9]

Fifth, the people themselves have shown it. Thirty people in 2024, ten to 37 people in June 2026, and one commander in August 2026 chose to return to the Republic of Indonesia. From inside, the road was visible, and they used it. [25] [26]

Sixth, which is borne by residents. The family who fled six years into the forest only returned home at the end of September 2026, a few days before the shooting in Aifat. As long as armed groups still choose to fight, such families will continue to be the last line in every report. [17]