The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. April 19, 2023 Indonesia Military Disputes Claim West Papuan Fighters Killed 12 Soldiers in Mission to Rescue Pilot ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indonesia's military chief denied claims by the West Papua National Liberation Army that it killed a dozen Indonesian soldiers this weekend during a failed Kopassus operation to rescue a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the pro-independence fighters. Indonesia says only one soldier was killed, while four others were missing. The attack has raised fears of a massive retaliation by Indonesian forces in West Papua, where protests for independence have been met by bloody repression by the Indonesian Army. .