Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission strongly criticised the military on Monday as it investigated the killing of 12 civilians last week during an operation against ​rebels in Papua province.

The military said it had no information about ‌the deaths, but the state-run rights commission said over the weekend that 12 people, including women and children, had been shot dead during an operation against separatists in central Papua on April ​14.

Dozens of others sustained serious injuries, it added.

The commission said it ​was investigating the deaths.

It was not immediately clear whether the ⁠civilians were killed by Indonesian or rebel fire, or both.

“We condemn the enforcement ​operation against Papuan rebels that resulted in civilian casualties,” commission chief Anis Hidayah said ​in a statement.

“All forms of attacks against civilians, whether in situations of war or otherwise, carried out by state or non-state actors, constitute violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law,” she ​added.

The commission also urged Indonesia’s military to reevaluate operations against Papuan rebels, she ​said.

Resource-rich Papua, home to the world’s second-largest gold and copper mine, has seen a simmering separatist movement ‌since it ⁠was brought under Indonesian control in a 1969 vote overseen by the United Nations.

The military spokesperson for Papua told Reuters he had not received any information regarding civilian fatalities in Papua last week.

The Papuan rebel group said 12 civilians had ​been killed by military ​operations.

The military’s Habema ⁠task force carried out an operation on April 14 in the Puncak region after receiving reports from civilians about the presence of rebels ​in their village, task force spokesperson Wirya Arthadiguna told Reuters.

Four rebels ​were killed ⁠during the operation in Kembru village, and there was a report of a child dying from a gunshot during an unrelated incident in a nearby village, Wirya said.