East Timorese police have shot dead three former pro-Indonesian militiamen at the border with Indonesia, the military and a witness says. They say the three had adopted Indonesian citizenship after East Timor voted for independence in 1999. The trio had been fishing in a river separating East Timor and Indonesia when they encountered border police. Two other people with them managed to escape. "They were 50 metres into East Timorese territory," Indonesian border commander Lieutenant Colonel Ediwan Prabowo said. "We still don't know why they were shot."
| Somebody didn't like them? |
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin is calling for a joint investigation into the incident. Egidio, 15, one of the intruders who escaped, says border guards recognised one of the three as as ex-militia men. "They fired warning shots and we ran. Then they shot at us," he said. Marcos Soares, the brother of Candido Mariano, one of the three killed, admits that they were former members of a militia group called Red and White Iron.
| Now they're Red and White Perforated Iron. |
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