Armed attack on UN police in East Timor

An armed ambush on a UN police vehicle in East Timor has raised fears opposition Fretilin supporters may be preparing armed resistance to the newly installed government of Xanana Gusmao.

Donna Cusumano, UN spokesperson in Baucau, said the vehicle was travelling in convoy to escort a civilian car between Baucau and Viqueque when the attack occurred on Friday.

"The car stopped to move a log which had been put across the road," Cusumano said. "It was carrying a Pakistani, Chinese and two Sri Lankan officers. They said 'many, many shots' were fired at them."

The UN's Dili office said mission head Atul Khare had pledged that those involved would be caught and tried.

A scheduled helicopter visit to Baucau on Saturday by President Jose Ramos-Horta and Khare had been called off.

It was the first armed attack on a UN vehicle in East Timor since peacekeepers clashed with Indonesian-backed militia groups in 1999.

Baucau man Marito Reis, who has been appointed state secretary for Veterans' Affairs in the new government, said the cars were attacked by a hostile crowd of around 600 rock-throwing Fretilin demonstrators hidden on hills either side of the road, during which volleys of rifle fire were also directed at them.

He said the demonstrators have been gearing up for days for the new president's visit.

He said a Timorese policeman at the scene told him the tyres of the vehicles were shot out and that the UN police officers travelling in it returned fire.

"The attackers apparently used automatic assault rifles," he said.

The UN officers radioed Timorese police to assist, and the Timorese army also came to their aid.

Both a UN and Timorese police vehicle were subsequently burnt by the attackers. There were no injuries on the UN side, but Reis said one of the attackers was thought to have been hit by a police bullet.

The Fretilin party scored the most votes in recent parliamentary elections, but failed to gain a working majority.

Ramos-Horta then nominated an alliance of several parties led by Gusmao's CNRT party to form a government instead.

Fretilin has pledged to boycott it and last week began mobilising supporters in the east, where it is strongest.

"Fretilin called three days of demonstrations here during which houses and government buildings have been burnt," Reis said, "but some of their people went to the mountains to dig up arms caches."

The spectre of armed revolt in East Timor has focused previously on anti-Fretilin westerners led by Major Alfredo Reinado; it is now feared others may take to the mountains to destabilise the fledgling democracy further.

© 2007 AAP