Ian Timberlake, Dili – Furious United Nations staff – evacuated from Maliana following the murders of two UN poll workers in the district – yesterday blasted Indonesian police for doing nothing while anti-independence militiamen rampaged.

A 38-car convoy from Maliana, carrying 40 foreign and 14 local UN staff, arrived at the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (Unamet) headquarters in the capital Dili yesterday afternoon, with some saying Maliana was in anarchy. The Unamet staff had sought refuge in the Maliana police station after the militia went on the rampage and torched houses.

"I haven't seen one ounce of police work since I got into this country," one of those evacuated said. "They have got to have an international [peacekeeping] force in here. The Timorese people are at their [the militias'] mercy."

Another UN officer called the situation in Maliana a disaster. "It is just surrounded by fire and smoke. The militia just roam free with their weapons," the officer said.

"There were houses burning all around town this morning," another said. "Nobody did anything to stop it either. The TNI [Indonesian military] did absolutely zilch." He said some houses were burning next to an Indonesian police compound and "the police were doing nothing".

The two dead East Timorese workers were a driver and an interpreter for Unamet. They were murdered in the early evening about 200 metres from the UN compound as they headed for home, a Unamet source said.

"We believe they were killed by pro-Indonesian militias. We believe they were macheted to death. Of course, all our locally employed staff had received threats continually," the source said.

After the murders, Unamet grouped all its personnel together. They spent the night surrounded by burning houses and the continual sound of gunfire, some apparently coming from automatic rifles. They fired "hundreds and hundreds of rounds," a UN civilian police officer said.

When the convoy left the town, 75km southwest of Dili, it was escorted by Indonesian police, many of whom had also fled Maliana, one officer said. The convoy passed through several armed militia road blocks on its way to Dili.

East Timor's Human Rights and Justice Foundation said observers in Maliana had confirmed three civilians had been shot dead there by Dadalus Merah Putih militiamen.

In a separate evacuation, four members of the International Federation for East Timor-Observer Project were on their way to West Timor under Indonesian police escort. In Liquica, another militia-ruled town 35km west of Dili, there were no plans yet to evacuate UN staff, Unamet spokesman David Wimhurst said. Militiamen had virtually taken over Liquica and torched about 30 houses on Thursday.

Some 75 journalists, mostly foreigners but also Indonesians working for overseas media, left East Timor for Bali aboard a BBC-chartered aircraft.

The Safety Office for Media in East Timor issued a "high alert" for journalists, cautioning them to avoid unnecessary travel and not to go out alone. Pro-Indonesian militiamen were reported to have told Indonesian journalists of a plan to go on a fresh rampage in Dili today.