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)