Gunmen Kill New Zealand Pilot in Papua Amid Escalating Violence

A New Zealand pilot was killed by gunmen on Monday in the restive Indonesian territory of Papua, where violence between the authorities and separatists has escalated in recent years but where foreign victims are rare.

The Indonesian authorities attributed the killing to the West Papua Liberation Army, an armed pro-independence group in the isolated and impoverished region, the country’s easternmost.

Separatists have occasionally used the kidnapping of foreign nationals to draw attention to their decades-long cause and for leverage in negotiations, but the intentional killing of foreigners is extremely rare. The rebel group accused by the authorities of killing Glen Conning, the pilot, on Monday said it was not clear that its fighters were involved in the incident.

Mr. Conning, 50, was working for an Indonesian company and ferrying civilians on a helicopter to the remote village of Alama, according to a local police officer. The gunmen captured Mr. Conning after he landed and proceeded to kill him and set his helicopter on fire, said the official, Faizal Ramadhani, a police general.

But they released the passengers — four adults, a child and a baby — because they were local residents, the general said.

Last year, a faction of the West Papua Liberation Army captured another New Zealand pilot and has been holding him hostage since.