By Richard Galpin in Jakarta.

International peacekeeping troops are reported to have discovered two more mass graves in East Timor.

Major-General Peter Cosgrove, the commander of the international force, is quoted as saying that 14 bodies have been found so far at one site.

Australian navy divers are also reported to have pulled out the remains of several bodies from a lake in a separate location in East Timor.

The reports of more mass graves coincide with a visit to the area by the Australian Defence Minister, John Moore, and other officials from his department.

They were told in a briefing that the first mass grave had been found by Australian troops in the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi.

Major-General Peter Cosgrove, the commander of the international force in East Timor, is quoted as saying that while 14 bodies had been found so far, it was possible there were many more buried in the area.

Witnesses have accused pro-Indonesia militias of murdering them after an overwhelming majority of people in East Timor voted in favour of independence from Indonesia in the UN-sponsored referendum at the end of August.

More victims of the violence which followed the referendum are also reported to have been found in a lake near the coastal town of Liquisa.

If these latest reports are confirmed, it will bring the total number of mass graves discovered in recent months to four.

And it comes at a critical time as teams from both the United Nations and the Indonesian Human Rights Commission push ahead with investigations into alleged atrocities by the militias in East Timor.