Joanna Jolly, Dili – An Indonesian aid worker now in hiding in West Timor believes notorious East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres started arming youths in the provincial capital, Kupang, days before this week's murders in Atambua.

The man also linked the murder of another militia leader, Olivio Moruk, to the Indonesian military. It was Moruk's death that sparked Wednesday's deadly attack on UN staff and subsequent killings of West Timorese.

Speaking yesterday by telephone, he said: "Eurico has been re-establishing the preman [youth defence gangs] in Kupang, giving them food, alcohol and money." Since the weekend, West Timorese youths had been carrying weapons openly on the streets of Kupang, he said, but conceded: "We have no proof of who has given them the weapons." He and his colleagues were extremely concerned about reports that truckloads of militia from Atambua were heading towards Kupang.

The aid worker linked the violence directly to Moruk's death. "Two TNI [Indonesian military] commanders arrived in Kupang on Tuesday. I believe they are connected to the killing of Moruk. I am absolutely certain he was killed by the TNI, probably Kopassus [special forces]," he said.

Sources in West Timor say that Moruk, who was originally trained by Kopassus troops in East Timor, was threatening to return to East Timor and give information on militia activities. On Tuesday, the day he died, he and 18 other militiamen, former military and civilian officials were summoned for questioning by Indonesia's Attorney-General in connection with last year's bloody militia rampage in East Timor.

Moruk was the former commander of the Laksaur militia. Witnesses to the Suai massacre in East Timor a year ago say Laksaur was responsible for killing 150 refugees hiding in a church compound, and that militiamen acted under the orders of Indonesian military and government officials. At least six Suai-based officials, military officers and militiamen were among the suspects named on Tuesday in Jakarta.