NZ helicopters join hunt for militia in West Timor

By GREG ANSLEY

New Zealand Air Force helicopters were yesterday hunting for a small militia group hiding in hills near the West Timor border that lost two of its members in a gunbattle with Australian soldiers.

The fight occurred nine days after Private Leonard Manning, a New Zealander, was killed and mutilated by militiamen and followed an increase in attacks and incursions since June.

The clash, in rugged jungle country near the city of Maliana, also came despite renewed Indonesian assurances of action against armed militia based in West Timor refugee camps and new promises to close the camps.

Although New Zealand troops were not involved in the incident or in the hunt mounted yesterday by about 100 Australian soldiers, the NZ Iroquois joined Australian Kiowa helicopters in a bid to track down the fleeing militiamen.

The brief battle reinforced increased security measures introduced in the New Zealand sector since Private Manning's death, with patrols on the porous border working to plug holes through which insurgents have slipped into the east.

The senior New Zealand national officer in East Timor, Brigadier Lou Gardner, said yesterday that it was now a matter of keeping up security, being prepared and not giving a potential foe an opportunity.

Wednesday's battle erupted after about 30 Australian soldiers tracked a group of militia reported by East Timorese villagers near Maliana.

The militia retreated rapidly after firing broke out - it was not clear yesterday who fired the first shot - leaving one dead and another dying.

The latter's body was found later by soldiers following a trail of blood.

An SKS rifle and a Mauser rifle were recovered after the clash.

The commander of the western sector, Brigadier Duncan Lewis, expressed concern both at the continuing incursions and at the fact that some of the militias' equipment was new.

"I just find it a little unusual that people would be equipped with relatively new equipment coming across, perhaps, from West Timor," he said.

After meeting TNI commanders in Bali and West Timor, Brigadier Gardner said he had been given new assurances of Indonesian determination to clamp down on the militias.

In another development, Indonesia yesterday raised the prospect of a visit by President Abdurrahman Wahid to New Zealand and Australia next month.