Police expected to find more dead bodies among the wounded who had escaped into the woods, he said.

“These tribesmen have been killed all over the countryside, all over the bush,” Kakas said.

Bodies were collected from the battlefield, roads and riverside, then loaded onto police trucks and taken to hospital.

Kakas said authorities were still counting “those who were shot, injured and ran off into the bushes”.

“We presume the numbers will go up to 60 or 65,” he said.

Kakas said it could be the highest death toll from such violence in the Highlands, where there are few roads and most residents are subsistence farmers.

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Police in the capital of Port Moresby did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for confirmation of the massacre.

Papua New Guinea is a diverse, developing nation of 10 million people with 800 languages in a strategically important part of the South Pacific.

Internal security has become an increasing challenge for its government as China, the United States and Australia seek closer security ties.

Tribal violence in the Enga region has intensified since elections in 2022 that maintained Prime Minister James Marape’s administration.

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Enga Governor Peter Ipatas said there were warnings that tribal fighting was about to erupt.

“From a provincial perspective, we knew this fight was going to be on and we [alerted] the security forces last week to make sure they took appropriate action to ensure this didn’t occur,” Ipatas told the ABC.

Ipatas described the violence as a “very, very sad occasion for us in the province and it’s a bad thing for the country”.

Security is a major issue in the country. In August, 150 people were reported killed in clashes in Enga province. At least 16 people were killed in riots last month.

The latest violence broke out as Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Pacific Minister Pat Conroy announced the government was boosting support for PNG with a package aimed at addressing major health challenges including HIV and malaria.

The funding will come from the government’s $620 million Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative, which will help build-up health systems in the Pacific and South-East Asia.

Wong said Australia would continue to work with its neighbour to meet health challenges.

“We cannot have the peaceful, stable and prosperous region we want without improving the health and wellbeing of our region’s communities,” she said.

Marape addressed the Australian parliament on February 8 when he urged Australians not to give up on his nation.

AAP, AP, Reuters

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