The Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus) is reportedly behind recent incursions into East Timor by militia fighters.

A leaked United Nations report alleges that gangs armed and supported by Kopassus have been entering East Timor and threatening to kill villagers and community leaders who oppose them, the Australian Broadcastingting Corporation said Wednesday.

Militiamen on January 4 raided the hamlet of Tiarlelo near Atsabe town, which is 25 kilometers from the border with Indonesian West Timor. The bandits killed one man and left three people wounded, including two children.

At the same time, another militia group attacked Laubuno village, 14 kilometers away, killing two people and wounding several more. Four more bodies have since been found, leaving a death toll of seven, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Tuesday.

The use of automatic weapons and discovery of bullet shells from Indonesian-issue SKS rifles raised fears of a return of Kopassus-ordered militia attacks.

In the wake of the second attack, Portuguese soldiers were called in to disperse the militia after Australia reportedly rejected a request for intervention by Australian peacekeepers.

Villagers later managed to capture between six to eight militiamen, at least one of whom reportedly confessed to being ordered by Indonesian soldiers to carry out the incursions.

East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta is certain the Indonesian government has no strategy to destabilize East Timor, but concedes that rogue Indonesian elements might have been involved in the attacks.

Kristio Wahyono, head of Indonesia's diplomatic mission in East Timor, said he had been assured by West Timor military commander Lieutenant Colonel Tjuk Agus and militia leader Joao Tavares that no ex-militias had crossed the border and attacked. "If anyone did, there were certainly no instructions from the Indonesian military," Wahyono was quoted as saying by the Herald.