Liquica – The church was no sanctuary. Neither was the priest's house, where for all their scrubbing, nuns had yet to wash away all the blood on Thursday.
Two days after pro-Indonesian militiamen invaded a church complex in East Timor, shooting and cutting down villagers, the massacre site was abandoned save for a few grazing goats and half a dozen nuns.
But witness accounts Thursday made vivid the scenes of slaughter at the compound in Liquica, where religious leaders say at least 25 people died and dozens were wounded.
Survivors' tales also implicated the hundreds of Indonesian police and soldiers who were there. Rather than trying to stop the carnage, the police allegedly participated in the hunt. Military commanders have denied the accusation.
The violence started shortly before noon Tuesday, when hundreds of civilian fighters who want Indonesia to keep control of East Timor swarmed into Liquica, attacking villagers suspected of being pro-independence activists.
They quickly converged outside the church, where up to 2,000 people, including children and the elderly, had sought shelter, according to parish priest Rafael dos Santos.
"Get out of the church!" shouted the members of Red and White Iron, a militia group that separatist activists say has received weapons and training from the Indonesian military.
Inside, terrified women were reluctant. "We didn't want to leave because we thought the men who were left behind would be killed," said 27-year-old Emilita Mendes, who has been hiding in a Liquica house since the massacre.
Soon, tension exploded into mayhem. As security forces stood by, Mendes and other witnesses said, militiamen ran into the church grounds and slashed at victims who scrambled to get away. Gunshots boomed as the injured screamed.
Antonio dos Santos, a 22-year-old church worker, escaped unharmed. A militiaman who had often attended Mass recognized him and told his buddies: "This is my friend. Don't do anything to him."
The Catholic priest, Rafael dos Santos, said God saved him. A fighter tried to shoot him, but the faulty gun only delivered a click. Frustrated, the assailant picked up a rock and hurled it at the priest, who is no relation to Antonio.
By this time, many villagers had fled from the church to the priest's house. According to Rafael dos Santos, police fired shots and lobbed tear gas grenades at his home and militiamen with clubs pounded those who stumbled out teary-eyed.
One of them was Francisco de Jesus, a 25-year-old electrician whose head was covered with bloody gauze Thursday as he recovered in a clinic in Dili, East Timor's capital, 18 miles east of Liquica. He escaped because a policeman who knew him ushered him to safety. Many witnesses said security forces also shot and beat victims at the church, which sits just 100 yards from a military office.
East Timor's military chief, Col. Tono Suratman, promised to investigate the reports but insisted soldiers had been trying to separate the two sides. Earlier this week, he said, troops killed two separatists who shot at them.
The military, which invaded East Timor in 1975, has long been accused of human rights abuses in its efforts to wipe out pro-independence rebels.
Indonesia reversed its policy of sovereignty over the former Portuguese colony earlier this year, and has said it will let go of the territory if its people turn down an autonomy offer.
However, escalating violence between supporters and opponents of independence threatens to undermine a vote on the autonomy proposal, planned for July. Separatists suspect Indonesia is trying to sabotage the vote by arming civilian militias.
On Thursday, about 2,000 militiamen, some accused of taking part in Tuesday's massacre, rallied at Maliana, a town 70 miles west of Liquica.
Brandishing swords, iron bars and other homemade weapons, they vowed to step up their fight against separatists. "We have to be ready whenever the attack comes," militia commander Joao da Silva Tavares told the gathering. "Prepare yourselves."
Even though nuns have been scrubbing hard in dos Santos' house, dried blood still spatters the floors, walls and the side of a jeep outside. Broken glass is everywhere. Bullet holes pepper the ceiling where attackers fired at people hidden in the attic.
Witnesses said men with swords gutted two people, including a chief from the nearby village of Dato, in the bathroom. There is also blood and clumps of matted hair on a wall of the church and several long tracks of blood on the ground.
East Timor's spiritual leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Belo, said the military had told him 25 people were killed.
A Dili-based human rights group, Yayasan Hak, estimated from witness accounts that 52 people were killed, their bodies dumped at sea or in a nearby lake. Another group, Solidamor, released a list of 42 dead. Among them were 23 children, including 11 girls aged between 1 and 14.