Student killed in Papua New Guinea university attack

Sydney / AFP

One man was killed and several buildings torched in violence at a university in Papua New Guinea, its vice-chancellor said on Sunday, some two weeks after police opened fire on students in the capital. Students have been protesting against Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, who is being investigated for corruption.
The undergraduate killed at the campus in Lae, the country’s second-largest city, was reportedly targeted amid clashes over class boycotts called as part of the protests. “We believe it is the same group (that killed the student and burnt the buildings),” said Albert Schram, vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea University of Technology. He said several dozen men carrying stones, sticks and bush knives mounted the attack on Saturday night, “and they moved about very fast, so it was very difficult for our security forces to follow them or arrest them”.
Schram said the student, believed to be in his early 20s, was at a dormitory on campus when he was hurt in the “apparent targeted attack” and died several hours later.