Police investigate 14 suspects

DILI, East Timor: Police have begun investigation into 14 people suspected of inciting the riot during the festivities celebrating the arrival of Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo from Europe on Dec. 24.

Antara quoted East Timor Police Chief Col. Jusuf Muharam as saying there were initially only 12 suspects. The number may increase because there are still other people believed to have been involved in the incident.

He said the police had confiscated bullets from the 14 suspects.

Muharam also said the people who attacked the 12 military personnel, one of whom died, had been identified.

Tens of thousands of East Timorese welcomed Bishop Belo on his return from Europe after receiving the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize last Dec. 10.

People lined the streets for seven kilometers from Komoro airport to the cathedral in Villaverde, west of Dili, where the bishop lead a mass.

The ceremony was marred by a scuffle that broke out in the airport waiting lounge shortly before his arrival.

The angry crowd smashed the airport souvenir shop windows and damaged a car parked outside.

An off-duty army corporal, Alfredo "Siga" Dos Santos, was killed by the mob outside the cathedral. (swe)