Dili – Police in East Timor detained a man after an exchange of gunfire between security forces and an armed group near the border with Indonesian West Timor, officials said Wednesday.

Six armed men opened fire on a police patrol Tuesday after being spotted by patrolling officers in the district of Ermera, about 50 kms southwest of Dili, a police source told Lusa.

Daniel Mendes, 24, was arrested after the firefight. He told police he was resident in Atambua in West Timor and had entered East Timor Sunday to join five other members of a group who have been in the country since November, 2004.

Residents of the village of Atudara in the district of Cailaco, about 30 kms southwest of Dili, said the group were part of a former pro-Indonesian militia gang that had operated in the area during Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta's rule.

A military source told Lusa that Tuesday's incident at Ermera was the first involving presumed ex-militiamen on Timorese soil for over a year.