Indonesian police have banned violent demonstrations and speeches promoting separatism in the easternmost region of Papua

Indonesian authorities shot dead six protesters in its unrest-wracked Papua region Wednesday, according to an eyewitness, while authorities said a soldier was killed in the clash.

Indonesia has cut off internet access in unrest-hit Papua over fears that a stream of offensive and racist online posts would spark more violent protests in the region, but critics slammed the move as a threat to free speech.

Indonesian police were hunting on Tuesday for more than 250 inmates who fled a jail in Papua that had been set ablaze a day earlier

Indonesia's police chief said on Monday that authorities in the easternmost Papua region were regaining control after protesters set fire to tyres and torched a local parliament building

Flash floods in Indonesia's eastern Papua province have killed at least 50 people, an official said Sunday, as rescuers raced to help dozens of other victims of the disaster.

Hundreds of students have fled fighting in Indonesia's restive Papua province, a local NGO said, amid unconfirmed reports of violent military reprisals after a massacre of civilian workers by separatist rebels.

Indonesian police have apologised and pledged disciplinary action after officers draped a live snake around the neck of a suspect to persuade him to confess during an interrogation session in the easternmost area of Papua.

Indonesian soldiers hunted Wednesday for rebels suspected of killing as many as 24 construction workers in restive Papua province, as an eyewitness account supplied by the military described a grisly mass execution.

Security forces in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua are hunting for a separatist group suspected of killing at least 24 construction workers building a bridge in a remote district, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Indonesia is deploying military paramedics to carry food and vaccines to a remote part of its easternmost province of Papua, where reports say at least 61 infants died from malnutrition and diseases such as measles.

An Indonesian policeman was shot dead and another was seriously wounded near a giant US-owned copper and gold mine Wednesday, authorities said, the latest in a string of shootings in restive Papua province.