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Man shot dead, crowd burns house

Source
Agence France Presse - August 1, 1999 (abridged)

Dili – Two gunmen, reportedly members of the pro-Indonesia militia, shot dead a man in East Timor on Sunday, prompting an angry crowd to set fire to the house of a known militia member.

Angelino Amaral, 24, was shot in the street not far from his home in the Taibesi district of the territory's capital Dili before dawn following a traffic accident, witnesses said.

One witness, Aderito Soares, said Amaral, who was riding a motorcycle, had inadvertently collided with another motorcycle carrying the two men.

"After they collided, the militia shot him," said Soares, 20. "They quarelled with each other," then the first shot was fired, he said.

Amaral, an employee of a state provincial bank, tried to run away but was shot again twice. Another witness, Manuel Oliveira, 27, also said the two gunmen were known to be members of the pro-Indonesia Aitarak militia.

An AFP journalist who saw Amaral's body after it was taken to the nearby Motael church noted two shotgun wounds on the victim's chest and another on his right arm.

"Our efforts to resucitate him failed and he died here," a nurse at Motael church said. The wounds appeared to have been made by regular firearms, and did not look like the messy injuries usually caused by the homemade weapons that are common here.

The Indonesian military has denied accusations that it supplies the militia with arms, and insists all weapons in their possession are homemade.

Amaral's elder brother Manuel said the family knew who had shot him, but did not say whether he was known to his attackers.

Shortly after the shooting, a crowd formed around the scene and then marched to a nearby house belonging to a known Aitarak member, an AFP photographer said.

They pelted the house with stones before setting it on fire. The blaze was doused shortly afterwards by neighbours who feared the fire would spread to their homes.

The mob ordered the photographer to leave the scene and warned him not to take any pictures. Several Indonesian policemen arrived on the scene, as well as members of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET). A police spokesman said he had heard about the shooting but declined to comment.

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