Interfet troops kill 3 militiamen in East Timor

It was the fourth significant armed clash between the Interfet and the militia since the Australian-led force arrived in East Timor on September 20 with a UN mandate to quell militia violence.

Kelly said an Interfet observation patrol of five to six men was ambushed by an initial group of about five militiamen armed with assault rifles and other weapons. When firing broke out the patrol retreated until they found a foothold. There were8220;certain casualties on the militia side, yet they continued to come forward in groups of four and five,8221; Kelly said.

The Bobonaro district, about 80 kilometres 50 miles southwest of Dili, stretches to the border with Indonesian-ruled West Timor. The firefight was the first reported between the militia and troops of the multinational force since last weekend.

On October 9, a small Interfet patrol ran into a firefight less than two miles From the tense border with West Timor at Alto Lebos, to the North of the town of Suai, leaving one militiaman dead.

The following day, Australian troops were involved in a shootout near the border town of Motaain. After that incident the Indonesian armed forces said the Australians had crossed the border into the West and killed an Indonesian policeman.Interfet denies that it trespassed, but the results of a joint investigation are yet to be released.

October 4 saw the first contact between the Interfet and the militia, also near Suai with two militiamen killed andtwo Australian soldiers wounded.