Injured officers claim soldiers behind attack

Two West Sepik police officers are now hospitalised in Port Moresby after PNGDF soldiers allegedly attacked them and their families during a dawn raid in West Sepik, provincial police commander Chief Inspector Mosses Ibsagi says.
“Probation police officers David Julius from Jiwaka and Simon John from Western Highlands sustained serious injuries last Monday morning and were flown to Port Moresby on Friday because Vanimo General Hospital does not have X-ray facilities to diagnose and examine their injuries,” he said.
“They sustained injuries after soldiers raided the Dali police barracks at about 3am while they were still asleep.”
Although PNGDF Commander Brigadier-General Gilbert Toropo said that he has yet to get a report on the incident, Ibsagi said yesterday that the soldiers deployed for operations along the PNG-Indonesian border rampaged through the police barracks in Vanimo causing about K20,000 worth of damages.
“Opportunists then took advantage of the confrontation between the police and soldiers and looted two Chinese stores in Vanimo on Wednesday.”
Ibsagi said that two off-duty police officers were drinking outside their barracks at about 1am when six soldiers, allegedly drunk, drove by in a vehicle.
“The soldiers then stopped and swore at the police officers. The off-duty officers asked them why they swore at them and a scuffle broke out.
“After the scuffle, the officers returned to their barracks and slept while the soldiers also returned to their barracks.”
Ibsagi said that the officers involved in the scuffle thought that there would be no retaliation and did not bother to warn the other residents of the barracks.
“However, while they were all sleeping, a mob of soldiers came and rampaged through the barracks and brutally beat up the police officers with pieces of timber,” he said.
“They also terrorised the families and destroyed personal valuable items like laptops and television sets.”