UN troops hunt for gunmen after East Timor attack

3:00 PM

SYDNEY - United Nations troops searched today near the East Timor border town of Balibo for suspected pro-Indonesia militia who shot and wounded an Australian peacekeeper.

Gunmen opened fire on two Australian soldiers on Friday, wounding one in the thigh.

"Troops were inserted in the area and are in the process of looking for the people responsible for the shooting," an Australian military spokesman said.

The wounded soldier, an army communications specialist who was not identified, is being treated in the UN military hospital in the East Timor capital Dili.

The soldiers were driving back to their base after delivering water to a border settlement when 20 to 40 rounds were fired at them from an abandoned house about two kilometres south of Balibo, Australian Army spokesman Major David Munro told ABC Radio from the East Timor capital Dili.

Balibo is not far from the border with Indonesian West Timor.

"He's doing fine. He's in a stable condition. And he's in good spirits," Munro said. The injured soldier, from the Queensland town of Toowoomba, is likely to be brought home.

After being shot at from the abandoned house, one of the two Australian soldiers returned fire. It was not known if any of the attackers was hit.

Munro said the incident - the first Australian contact with militia since October - was being investigated.

"In a situation like this anything's possible. You have a hostile force near the border," Munro said.

Pro-Jakarta militias who laid waste to East Timor when it voted last year to break from Indonesia's harsh rule have had occasional clashes with UN peacekeepers in the territory. The militias are based in refugee camps in West Timor.

Two peacekeepers - New Zealander Private Leonard Manning and a Nepali - have been killed, along with several militia in previous clashes. In September three foreign UN aid officials were killed by militia.

Australia led a multinational peacekeeping force to East Timor after the 1999 ballot and currently contributes most of the troops in a transitional UN administration in the territory.

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: Timor mission

UN Transitional Administration in E Timor