Captured ex-militia says seven armed groups infiltrated in
December
Dili, Jan. 14 (Lusa) - A captured former anti-independence militiaman
has told interrogators in Dili that at least seven armed groups
infiltrated East Timor from Indonesia in December, according to two
reports obtained by Lusa Tuesday.
The reports, one prepared by Timorese police and the second for the
Timorese Defence Force, cite the captive as saying all the armed groups
were organized in the West Timor border town of Atambua by an Indonesian
army chief sergeant, Tomé Dogo, and a former Indonesian civil servant
in
Gleno, Miguel Guterres.
According to the captive, Armando Kamarudin, who once served with the
Indonesia special military SKI force, the seven groups crossed the
border through the informal market area of Talilaran with orders to head
for seven East Timorese districts, including Dili and Baucau.
The two reports made no mention of the missions or targets given the
infiltrators.
But when Kamarudin and five other members of his seven-man band were
captured by civilians near Liquica, about 36 kms west of Dili, Monday,
they reportedly said their mission was to "destabilize" East
Timor.
Kamarudin, according to the police and Defense Force reports, gave
deatiled information on four of the seven infiltrated groups, all
apparently composed of Timorese and armed with a variety of automatic
weapons and homemade arms.
Kamarudin was quoted as saying that his group crossed the border on Dec.
18 through the Talilaran market between two Australian UN peacekeeping
checkpoints.
"The peacekeeping soldiers never inspect civilians, so when dressed
as
civilians one can infiltrate East Timor even in daylight, right under
their eyes as if one were going for a walk", one report cited Kamarudin
as saying.
Unidentified armed bands have been operating in areas southwest of Dili
for weeks.
In a Jan. 2 raid on a village near Atsabe seven people were abducted
and
two days later six were killed and four wounded in raids on two other
villages in the area, about 60 kms from Dili.