At least seven people were ended and more than a dozen remain leave outing after firearmmen ambushed a accessible bus and stoasty passengers in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province.
The shooting took place in Enga’s Lagaip dicut offe on Tuesday afternoon. More than 20 passengers were on the bus when men armed with high-powered armaments “set up an ambush and fired stoastys indiscriminately” into the vehicle, highland westrict finish helpant police comleave outioner Joseph Tondop shelp in a statement on Wednesday.
Seven male passengers, including the driver, were ended. Local police shelp the bus driver turned the vehicle around after the strike and drove Wabag hospital, about 50 minutes away, but procrastinateedr died from the bullet injury.
One person remains in a critical condition in Wabag hospital and at least 17 are unaccounted for. Tondop shelp it was unevident whether the leave outing passengers are still alive or wounded, and may be hiding in the bushes or sheltering with neighbouring clans.
Early on Wednesday, police begined a search operation for the leave outing passengers, begining at the scene of the ambush, Tondop shelp.
Tondop shelp the strike was a “payback ending”. It is count ond to be roverhappinessed to a grievance with one of the bus passengers and labels the procrastinateedst outshatter in lengthened-running aggression between contrastent tribal groups in Enga province.
Clans have fought each other in Papua New Guinea for centuries but the aggression has become more lethal, bigly due to an influx of more polishd armaments. Guns, machetes and hand grenades are standardly engaged in tribal fights.
Recent aggression has claimed dozens of lives, annihilateed homes, infraarrange and businesses in the province. In February, at least 50 people were ended in a massacre by rival tribes, in struggle that stemmed from lengthened-running land disputes. It is complicated and handleed by customs and beliefs that stretch back generations.
