Indonesian security forces on Friday recovered the body of American pilot Nicholas F. Goselin, who was killed after armed separatists attacked and burned his aircraft in the restive Papua region. Goselin, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT AMA, was shot and killed Thursday shortly after landing at the Ipdeheik airstrip in Balinggama village of the Yahukimo regency in the mountainous province of Papua Highlands.
An evacuation involving 10 personnel from the Habema Operations Command was completed after troops secured the remote airstrip, according to Brig. Gen. Riyanto, deputy commander of the operation. Rebels armed with guns and axes raised the Morning Star flag, a symbol of Papuan independence, and claimed responsibility for the attack in a video distributed by the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement.
The conflict in Papua, a decades-old insurgency between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces, has intensified in the past year, resulting in the deaths of dozens of rebels, security forces, and civilians. Foreign pilots have been specifically targeted by the rebels.
Contact with the airstrip was lost shortly after Goselin reported the plane's landing. The aircraft was carrying one pilot and seven passengers, according to a statement from Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom stated that the aircraft violated their ban on civilian flights in areas the separatist group considers its operational zones. He alleged that civilian aircraft have been used to transport Indonesian military personnel and logistics into Papua’s remote interior, and that the American pilot was killed because the aircraft continued operating despite the group’s warning. These claims could not be independently verified.
The Indonesian military denied that the plane was used to carry troops, stating that the seven passengers on board were indigenous Papuan civilians, including three women, who were unharmed. Sambom urged Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to initiate international negotiations to resolve the conflict in Papua. He also called on the United Nations to facilitate talks between the Indonesian government, the TPNPB, and Papuan representatives, warning that the group would target other civilian aircraft it believes are aiding military operations.
This incident follows similar attacks on pilots in Papua. In February 2023, Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, abducted Philip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from New Zealand, who was later freed in September 2024. In August 2024, TPNPB gunmen killed Glen Malcolm Conning, a New Zealand pilot working for PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, shortly after he landed in a remote village carrying several indigenous Papuans.
Papua, formerly a Dutch colony, was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 following a UN-sponsored ballot, an event that sparked the ongoing conflict. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy.