Troops to be dispatched after attacks kill three in East Timor<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Dili<\/p>\n
United Nations and East Timorese troops will be sent to guard a
\ndistrict where attackers killed three villagers over the weekend,
\nofficial sources said on Monday.<\/p>\n
A gang armed with automatic rifles stormed into the villages
\nof Tiarelelo and Lobano in East Timor's Atsabe district on
\nSaturday night, killing three people including a village chief
\nand his son. Several people were injured.<\/p>\n
Presidential chief of staff Agio Pereira said the attackers
\nwere pro-Jakarta militiamen and those killed were former
\nresistance leaders during Indonesian rule.<\/p>\n
It was the worst violence since the Indonesian military and
\ntheir local militia proxies withdrew from East Timor in 1999.
\nPereira denied earlier reports that four people had died, saying
\nonly three people were killed.<\/p>\n
"The local people recognized them as (pro-Indonesian)
\nmilitiamen," Pereira told AFP. But he said he did not know if the
\nattackers had acted on orders.<\/p>\n
"We're looking into this matter," he said.<\/p>\n
"The people killed were local leaders of the CNRT (the
\nresistance group during Indonesian occupation). The motive is
\npolitical," Pereira said.<\/p>\n
He said UN peacekeepers had been dispatched to Atsabe but did
\nnot say how many.<\/p>\n
East Timor Defense Force chief Brig. Gen. Taur Matan Ruak said
\nhe would soon send soldiers to the district. He did not say how
\nmany would be sent but a source in the force said 180 troops
\nwould be dispatched.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said some of the attackers wore ninja-style masks.
\nThey said they believed they were pro-Indonesian militiamen, who
\nlaid waste to East Timor after the territory voted for
\nindependence in a 1999 referendum.<\/p>\n
One of the witnesses, Flaviano, identified one of the
\nattackers who did not wear a mask as a militiaman called Manuel.
\nMatan Ruak said his own force was not equipped with SKS and G3
\nrifles, which were believed used in the attack.<\/p>\n
"We used to have them during the resistance but they were all
\nhanded over. Only militias have them," he said of the rifles.<\/p>\n
Matan Ruak, President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari
\nAlkatiri visited the villages on Sunday to meet residents and
\nheard pleas for protection.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has said that former pro-
\nJakarta militiamen were involved in riots which hit the capital
\nDili on Dec. 4, although he did not suggest they were acting on
\nJakarta's orders.<\/p>\n
Two people were killed and 25 injured in those riots which
\nbegan as a student protest against police. About a dozen
\nbuildings, including the prime minister's home, were destroyed or
\nbadly damaged.<\/p>\n
East Timor became independent on May 20 after 24 years of
\nIndonesian occupation and 31 months of United Nations
\nstewardship.<\/p>",
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