Jakarta – Police suspect 11 victims found in a mass grave in East Timor were members an anti-independence militia group that has been accused of carrying out attacks and atrocities against civilians, a newspaper reported today.

The tied-up, beaten and stabbed bodies of the victims were discovered Friday in a grave in the town of Ermera. The town, 25 miles southwest of the territorial capital, Dili, has been a center of attacks by militiamen who want East Timor to remain part of Indonesia.

The newspaper Kompas quoted Lt. Col. Erri Gultom, Ermera's police chief, as saying the dead men appeared to have been members of the Aitarak or "Thorn" group, one of several militias formed in recent months.

Gultom said four suspects had been arrested. He told The Associated Press on Friday that the suspects were pro-independence supporters.