Gunmen opened fire on a small plane landing at an airport in
Mulia, a town in the restive Papua region, killing Kogoya and injuring four
passengers, according to news
reports.
Kogoya, 35, was a reporter for the local newspapers Papua
Pos Nabire and Pasifik Pos Dail. “He had returned to the area to
meet his family and help with the coverage of elections,” Angelbertha Sinaga,
the editor of the Papua Pos media group, told reporters, according to news
reports.
Local police pursued the gunmen but lost them in the rugged
terrain around the airport, news reports said. Initial news accounts reported
that authorities had called it a “terrorist attack,” but were unable to
establish a motive. Papua is a remote, mountainous, and restive region with
anti-government groups sporadically carrying out armed attacks.
The day after the attack, presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin
Pasha called Kogoya’s death “totally unacceptable” and told journalists it
“must be solved quickly. Those responsible should be brought to justice.” The
English-language daily Jakarta
Globe reported that
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had demanded quick justice in the murder. No
arrests had been made in the case.