Soldier found dead with gunshot wounds

Soldier found dead with gunshot wounds

DILI, East Timor (JP): A soldier was gunned down by an
unidentified person in Dili on Sunday.

Private Marchal Ximenes, a village security guard, was killed
with 11 rounds from an M16, military commander Col. Tono Suratman
said. He was assigned to the Bahaneo hamlet in Liaruka village in
Ossu district, Viequeque regency.

"He was murdered in a sadistic manner with 11 bullets and
slash wounds," Tono said on Thursday.

Marchal, he said, was on his way to the Ossu Desima village
near his home. Around 1 p.m. he entered the hamlet with relatives
and the group was then blocked by four unknown, armed and masked
men, one of them using an M16. The weapon was found at the site,
he said.

Tono quoted witnesses, Marchal's relatives, who said the men
immediately attacked him and left the others unharmed.

The culprits were being sought by the military to bring them
to trial, he said, "not because of revenge."

The motive, Tono said, was " terrorizing soldiers" and the
Falintil separatist group was responsible. The attack on the low
ranking soldier follows a similar one earlier this month.

The attack was misguided, Tono said, because the military
would instead be increasingly committed to securing the area and
carrying out their duties.

On Jan.3, two members of a proreferendum group were killed
during an attack by some 100 people on a sentry post manned by
armed civilian guards in Ainaro regency, 250 kilometers south of
Dili.

Col. Tono had also blamed the incident on the Falintil.

The victims were killed by the guards after the mob had
ignored warning shots, he said. (33)