At least 15 killed in tribal massacre in Papua New Guinea

At least 15 women and children have been killed in a massacre in Papua New Guinea’s Hela province.

Prime Minister James Marape vowed on Wednesday to hunt down the killers in one of the worst outbreaks of tribal violence in the country for years.

The killings happened on early Monday morning during a raid on Karida, a village of about 800 people in the interior of the country.

Hela province and other areas in the highlands of Papua New Guinea have been beset by tribal violence in recent years. There have been reports of killings, reprisals and sexual violence, all made worse with the increasing availability of firearms.

PNG police told the Post Courier the attack followed an ambush attack on Saturday, which left six people dead.

The attack occurred in the electorate of Marape, who described the day as “one of the saddest” of his life.

In a Facebook post, Marape said the attack was led by gunmen from the Haguai, Okiru and Liwi tribes and said he would seek out and punish the perpetrators, using the “strongest measures in law”.

“In memory of the innocent who continue to die at the hands of gun-toting criminals, your time is up, before I had someone else to report to, now I have no one else to report to but the innocent you kill,” he wrote.

“To all who have guns and kill and hide behind the mask of community, learn from what I will do to criminals who killed innocent people … I am coming for you.”

Marape also blamed insufficient police resources in the region, saying he had been asking for more permanent police to be stationed in the area since 2012, but had not had any support.

“How can a province of 400,000 people function with policing law and order with under 60 policemen?” Marape wrote.