Liquisa military chief testifies

DENPASAR, Bali: An East Timor military leader testified yesterday that inadequate telecommunication equipment and rough terrain did not enable him to control the Jan. 12 military operation that killed six unarmed villagers.

Chief of the Liquisa military command, Lt. Col. Tris Suryawan Adiwijaya, told a military tribunal that he was briefed on the result of the operation after the mission was over.

"First Lt. Jermias Kasse told me that a gun fight had taken place in which six rebels were killed and a soldier wounded," Tris said as quoted by Antara.

The court tried two soldiers, Kasse and First Class Private Rusdin Maubere, on charges of disobeying their commander's (Tris Suryawan's) order not to shoot unarmed rebels.

Kasse was the leader of the operation that involved 30 soldiers. Maubere is accused of killing the six prisoners after seeing his colleague was wounded in the encounter. (pan)