Preelection Killings Continue in E. Timor

A second day of violence left three more people dead in East Timor, despite angry U.N. demands that the Indonesian government rein in the militiamen who don’t want the territory to break away from Indonesia. A U.N.-organized vote on independence for East Timor is set for Monday, but rampages by the anti-independence militia have left nine people dead in two days. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975, triggering years of guerrilla warfare and human rights abuses. The plebiscite will give residents of mostly Christian East Timor a choice between staying part of Muslim Indonesia as an autonomous region or becoming fully independent. Witnesses said two people were stabbed to death by the militiamen and another was shot dead Friday in the village of Memo.