Jakarta – Clashes broke out between local army battalion and a special Indonesian force in the East Timor town of Baucau, a rights group said Friday.

The day of fighting Thursday, including shooting, broke out after an incident involving members of the local battalion and the Kopassus unit at Baucau bus terminal in Kotabaru, Riu Fiana of the Foundation of Human Rights and Justice said from Dili, the East Timor capital.

"We have received reports from residents there that at least two Kopassus members were seriously injured but we have not been able to confirm the report," Fiana said.

He said the local chapter of his organisation reported that the incident followed a check by some militia-backed Kopassus members on passengers of a bus that had just arrived from Los Palos on the eastern tip of East Timor.

Several members of the local 745 battalion intervened when the Kopassus members roughed up passengers. Members of the Los Palos-based 745 battalion later attacked the Kopassus headquarters near the terminal and shots were heard until late in the evening, Fiana said.

The city was calm early, a church source there said. Police and army spokesmen in Dili could not be immediately reached for comment.