Timor killers 'identified'

Jakarta has ordered the militias to disarm

Indonesian police say they have identified two people suspected of killing three United Nations aid workers in West Timor last month.

The police chief for the Atambua border area, where the murders took place, said he had signed arrest warrants for the two but did not name them.

The Atambua office where three UN workers were murdered

Superintendent S M Simatupang said investigations were continuing which might identify further suspects.

According to the Indonesian state news agency Antara the two suspects were among 20 people recently questioned by police.

The UN workers - an American, a Croat and an Ethiopian - were hacked to death by members of a pro-Jakarta East Timorese militia who attacked their office on 6 September.

Rampage

The militia in West Timor are the same gangs that waged a campaign of destruction in East Timor after the territory voted to end 23 years of Indonesian rule last year.

They then forced tens of thousands of East Timorese into Indonesian controlled West Timor as they fled the territory.

The militias now operate out of the refugee camps in West Timor and continue to terrorise the border region.

Jakarta has come under increasing international pressure to clamp down on the militias, especially since the Atambua killings.

Aid warning

Some donors have warned that aid could be at risk if Jakarta does not get tough with the gunmen.

Last week Indonesia ordered police and soldiers to start disarming the militias by force.

Jakarta had initially given the militias until September 27 to voluntarily surrender their firearms.

However, the haul of weapons surrendered so far has been described as insignificant with one UN official labelling the disarmament process "pathetic".