An Indonesian military commander has ordered his troops to arrest East Timorese militiamen who are still operating from refugee camps in neighbouring West Timor, the official Antara news agency said Wednesday.

"There's no excuse for the refugees who create trouble. I order the local military commander to arrest them [because] maybe police have too much work to do to handle them," Major General William da Costa was quoted by Antara as saying.

Da Costa heads the Bali-based military command which oversees security in Indonesian West Timor. He urged refugees who possessed arms to hand them over to the security authorities and said soldiers would be allowed to shoot militiamen if they engaged in violence.

The militiamen and more than 100,000 other East Timorese have been living in refugee camps in West Timor since East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia in September 1999.

"Should anything happen, I will be responsible for it. I have conveyed this time and again to the leaders of East Timorese refugees," the general said.

United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor, which is now under UN supervision in its transition to full independence, and pro-Indonesian East Timorese militiamen have clashed several times since the vote.

In the latest armed skirmish on the border between East and West Timor last week, peacekeepers killed an Indonesian army sergeant who crossed the frontier armed but without wearing his uniform. The UN said the sergeant fired at one of its patrols.