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Kopassus
Behind Militia Attacks: Report
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Laksamana.Net
January
22, 2003
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Kopassus Behind Militia Attacks:
Report
Laksamana.Net - 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 AustralBroadcastingting Corporation said Wednesday
(22/1/02).
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.
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