Peacekeepers in E. Timor Kill 2 Militiamen

Australian peacekeepers repelled an ambush Wednesday, killing two anti-independence militiamen in the first clash since arriving more than two weeks ago. The violence came on the same day that Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo received a joyful welcome home.

Belo, who fled during last month’s militia rampage through East Timor, is the first major independence figure to return since the violence that forced hundreds of thousands from their homes and destroyed much of Dili, East Timor’s territorial capital.

The clash Wednesday began in the morning when Australian troops stopped a truck full of militiamen that drove past a roadblock in Suai, a militia stronghold near the border with Indonesia.

Dozens of militia members were disarmed and taken by peacekeepers to the border with Indonesian-controlled West Timor, where thousands of anti-independence fighters have sought shelter along with more than 200,000 East Timorese.

The ambush occurred nine miles east of the border, as the same peacekeepers returned to Suai. Two peacekeepers were wounded.

“That small-vehicle convoy was ambushed by an unknown number of people with firearms,” Australian Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, commander of the U.N.-sanctioned peacekeeping force, said in Dili.