APSN Banner

Two police officers killed in East Timor

Source
Reuters - May 28, 1997

Jakarta – Two Indonesian policemen were killed and four injured after rebels attacked their convoy in the troubled territory of East Timor, church and hospital sources said on Wednesday.

Police and military officials could not be reached for comment.

"The attack happened yesterday (Tuesday) at 10 a.m. near Baucau. Two policemen were killed after being shot by the rebels," a source in Baucau town, 100 km (62 miles), east of the East Timor capital Dili, told Reuters by telephone.

Sources at the Wira Husada military hospital in Dili said the four injured men were still being treated there.

There were no indications if the ambush was linked to the nation's general election campaign, which has seen the worst political violence in the country in more than 30 years.

Voting takes place on Thursday. A church source said the attack took place about 20 km (16 miles) east of Baucau when about 20 policemen in two trucks were on their way to the town of Los Palos for guard duty during Thursday's general elections.

"There was no gun battle because the policemen only carried sticks. Two policemen in the first truck were killed. The officers in the second truck were injured after the vehicle fell into a ravine because the driver became nervous," the source said.

Tuesday's attack follows a major ambush in East Timor in April when a senior government official, an aide and four security guards were killed at a village near Viqueque town, 120 km (75 miles) south of Dili.

Military officials have said the number of armed rebels in East Timor is dwindling and do not number more than 200 poorly quipped fighters.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the following year in a move not recognised by the United Nations, which still considers former colonial ruler Portugal as the administering power.

Country