Canberra – The commander of the multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor said Monday that he had issued a warning to his troops after a group of women complained of sexual harassment.

A series of incidents over several nights late last year seriously embarrassed troops who had won international praise for their peacekeeping efforts and sparked a major investigation to try to identify the men involved.

Major-General Peter Cosgrove, commander of the Interfet force, said military police had not yet apprehended the soldiers accused of verbally abusing as many as six sisters in an East Timorese family, some of whom made the complaint.

"We've been hunting for these fellows," General Cosgrove said on Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio, adding, "unfortunately, without success" so far.

He said, "We would want these people to turn themselves in – that's unlikely – but certainly if we find them we'll be asking for them to be called to account."

The newspaper The Australian said the incidents had involved as many as six young daughters of a Timorese family separated by the campaign of terror and murder waged in September by militias backed by parts of the Indonesian armed forces after East Timor voted August 30 for independence from Indonesia.

The most serious of the reported incidents happened December 16 just hours after the daughters had been reunited with their parents, who had fled as refugees to West Timor. According to the report, their mother hid behind a tree as a group of Australian men in civilian dress stormed a house in a suburb of Dili, the capital of East Timor, shouting that they "wanted a lady."

"We've apologized to the young women involved by saying that we were just aghast at this as 99.9 percent of the people here," General Cosgrove said. "I dare say the other 0.1 percent are feeling very guilty and stupid."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of Australia said the complaints were regrettable but had not undermined the work of the foreign force in East Timor.

The reports of sexual harassment "are obviously a matter of great concern to the Australian government," Mr. Downer said, "and we deplore the alleged behavior that's taken place."