NZ border patrol fires after challenge

New Zealand troops in East Timor are on high alert after a patrol exchanged fire with suspected border raiders at the weekend.

The New Year's Day incident is seen as the most serious yet for the New Zealanders, although a soldier fired his rifle late in November after spears were thrown at a patrol.

In the latest scare, a patrol in southern Kova Lima saw four people, one of them with what looked like a Russian AKM rifle, about 1km from the border with Indonesian West Timor.

Army spokesman Major Bede Fahey said from Dili yesterday that one of the New Zealand soldiers challenged the armed man, ordering him to surrender the weapon.

Instead, the man swung his rifle towards the soldier, who responded by firing three shots from a distance of about 50m.

This sent the unidentified group scattering back towards the border.

But about half an hour later, someone believed to be from the same group fired six shots in the vicinity of the original incident, although none of the patrolling soldiers was injured.

Major Fahey said it was not known whether any of the suspected raiders was hurt. Although they were in civilian clothing, the way they reacted by scattering in different directions showed some degree of drilling.

New Zealand's most senior officer in East Timor, Brigadier Martyn Dunne, said they were probably militia foraging for food and the incident meant "we have to be more vigilant in our actions down that part of the world."

Major Fahey said Australian troops were involved in an exchange near the border two weeks ago, when Indonesian soldiers in West Timor fired shots near them during a suspected border raid by militiamen. - STAFF REPORTER, NZPA