Two masterminds caught in Dili

JAKARTA: Police in East Timor have arrested two alleged rebels for masterminding the recent riots in the capital Dili, Antara reported yesterday.

"They were trying to escape when they were captured Sunday by security officers monitoring Dili and its surrounding areas," local police chief, Col. Yusuf Mucharam.

The authorities also arrested people suspected of rioting in Dili on Dec. 24 when Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo returned from Oslo.

Mucharam said the two alleged rebels worked as agitators in towns for last of the separatist rebels based in the jungle.

"They admitted that a number of riots and anti-integration demonstrations in the province were incited by the rebels from their hideout in the mountains," he said.

He said the two worked for two rebel leaders who he declined to identify.

An Army corporal was killed and 11 people injured in the Dec. 24 incident. The police have so far detained 31 men for their alleged involvement in the incident.