Dili – Around 200 more soldiers from East Timor's 1,500-strong army have joined a strike over poor conditions and selective promotions, officials said Thursday.

The troops walked out of their barracks to join the 400 who have been on strike since Feb. 8, said Gastao Salsinha, a coordinator of the strike.

The soldiers have refused to return to duty, demanding an independent investigation into their complaints about working conditions and promotion rules. They delivered a petition to President Xanana Gusmao, who urged them to return to barracks and promised a government inquiry.

"We demand the government and President Gusmao set up a good mechanism to solve our problem because more and more soldiers are on strike," said Salsinha, adding that a total of 593 troops had now joined the action.

A military spokesman said he could not confirm that the strike was spreading. "I have not heard that. We will need to investigate the report," said Col. Lere Anan Timor, deputy chief of the East Timor Defense Force.

The defense force was formed six years ago, when the UN took over control of the nascent country following an independence referendum that ended Indonesia's 24-year occupation. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 after local leaders proclaimed independence following the end of Portuguese colonial rule. The force currently consists of two light infantry battalions and two reserve battalions. It also has a small naval component numbering about 100 men and equipped with two patrol boats supplied by Portugal.

The army – which was trained by Australian and Portuguese instructors – is designed to deal with border incursions from Indonesia or, in the case of another full-scale invasion, to slow down the attackers until outside help arrives.

Most of the soldiers involved in the protest are said to be former insurgents who fought against Indonesia's occupation forces during the 24-year war in which nearly 200,000 Timorese perished.