Italians to join Interfet

Italians to join Interfet

CANBERRA (AP): A contingent of 200 Italian paratroopers will join the international peacekeeping force in East Timor, Italian officials in Australia said Saturday.

The soldiers will leave the northern Australian city of Darwin early Monday and arrive in the East Timorese capital of Dili on the same day. The troops will be followed by an Italian navy contingent a few days later, the Italian embassy said in a statement.

Darwin, about 90 minutes flying time from Dili, is the staging point for the Australian-led peacekeeping force.

Some 7,000 foreign troops are currently in East Timor to quell violence which followed East Timor's vote for independence on Aug. 30.

In the deadliest clash so far between pro-Indonesian militiamen and international troops, peacekeepers shot dead three paramilitaries in a firefight in the west of the province, officials said Saturday.

Three other militiamen were believed wounded in the clash early Saturday near the village of Marko, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border of Indonesian-held West Timor, said Col. Mark Kelly, chief of staff of the peacekeeping force.

None of the Australian troops involved was injured, he said.