Mark Dodd – United Nations peacekeepers have captured a suspected pro-Jakarta militiaman after a gun battle in highland country deep inside East Timor.
The gunfight on Monday is the third violent incident within 24 hours involving militia infiltrators operating deep inside East Timor. It raises concerns about the UN's ability to maintain security. UN military officials believe the incidents involved separate teams of infiltrators who appeared to be well-armed and well-trained.
The latest confrontation occurred in Atsabe, a coffee-growing town about 60 kilometres south-east of Dili. It involved Portuguese and Kenyan peacekeepers. Four militia escaped after firing 15 rounds at the UN forces, who had been travelling to Maliana to investigate a militia attack on Sunday afternoon. The peacekeepers fired 40 rounds.
An automatic weapon was later recovered with 350 rounds of ammunition and two black T-shirts, an official said. The suspected militia member was taken to Dili for interrogation by UN military intelligence.
In a separate incident on Sunday, formerly unreported by the UN, a farmer was shot dead, another was wounded and a third escaped injury after a five-man militia commando team opened fire on rural workers near Maliana.
In a similar incident on Sunday in the Maliana area, a five-man militia squad killed one villager. A second villager was wounded and a third man abducted but later escaped.
The latest attacks inside the border have caught the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) off guard. They pose a serious challenge to UNTAET's authority and its pledge to the East Timorese to maintain peace and security.
Tasmanian civil road engineers who have been working on a UN-funded contract in the Atsabe area expressed alarm at the security breakdown and said civilian police were "crawling all over the area" yesterday.
One engineer, who asked to be known only as Adam, said he had seen an apparent militia member before the most recent confrontation. "He was dressed in a khaki shirt, wearing camouflage pants and carrying a machine-gun slung across his back."