ABRI denies killing official

ABRI denies killing official

DILI, East Timor: Although the investigation is still in
process, local military chief Col. M. Simbolon denied reports
yesterday that members of the Armed Forces (ABRI) have killed a
civil servant.

"People who said that a certain Raul was shot dead by the
military should be able to produce his body. I have to see the
body myself to obtain reliable proof," Simbolon told reporters.

A reliable source told The Jakarta Post that Ainaro Regent
Norberto Dos Santos has filed a report with Vice Governor Johanes
Haribowo claiming that soldiers shot at two men they suspected of
being thieves. One of them turned out to be Raul, the regent's
treasurer who was carrying Rp 8 million (US$3,500) in Ainaro
civil servants' paychecks from the bank.

They were reportedly resting at a small hut when the soldiers
burst in and shot them.

Simbolon, however, said that the soldiers captured one
suspect, while another fled into the nearby forest and has not
returned since. (yac)