Dili – Seven men accused of taking part in a militia attack on a humanitarian aid convoy in East Timor have been jailed for four months, a UN spokesman said Sunday.

The accused were ordered to serve their sentences "with no time off," David Wimhurst, spokesman for the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), told AFP. He did not elaborate on when the sentences were handed down.

Two UNAMET military liaison officers and other UN staff were accompanying an aid convoy back to Dili on July 4 when it was attacked in the town of Liquisa by militiamen with guns and machetes. One driver for an East Timorese aid organization was seriously wounded.

Two homemade guns and a homemade handgun, were offered as evidence, in front of the three judges during the trial that featured testimony by one of the UNAMET officers.

Police from UNAMET, which has been pressing for militia involved in violence ahead of a self-determination vote, to be brought to justice, advised Indonesian police who investigated the case.

The 20-day campaign for the August 30 ballot, in which East Timorese will vote to accept or reject an Indonesian offer of autonomy, started Saturday.