As pro-Jakarta militias pledged to wage a guerrilla campaign against independence in East Timor, Catholic Church sources confirmed that nine people had died in a weekend massacre in the territory.
The Indonesian state news agency, Antara, quoted Eurico Guterres, deputy commander of the Front for Integration Fighters (PPI), which groups all the pro-Jakarta militias, as calling on his men to prepare for a guerrilla campaign.
"After receiving instructions from the commander of the battalions and after a strong consolidation, the entire PPI personnel will immediately open guerrilla bases," he said in Indonesian-ruled West Timor.
The nine people who died, killed either by Indonesian troops or the militias, included two nuns, a student priest and two church deacons. Among them was Sister Erminia Cazzaniga, a 69-year-old Italian missionary who has been in East Timor since 1965.
An Indonesian journalist, Mr Agus Mulyawan, a driver and two female students also died. East Timorese resistance leaders claimed they had killed 11 militia members responsible for the massacre.
Confirmation of the killings came the day after the UN Human Rights Commission voted to establish an inquiry into crimes committed in East Timor in the wake of its August 30th vote for independence. Indonesia said yesterday it would co-operate with the inquiry but not necessarily act on its findings.
The Australian-led international force in East Timor (Interfet), under growing pressure to act against the militias, announced it had detained 15 armed people in a helicopter raid in the far east of the territory. The arrests were made at the town of Com, close to the site of the weekend massacre, but it was unclear whether the raid was a response to the killings.
During the past week Australian troops sweeping through Dili for armed pro-Jakarta militia have captured around 10 suspected members of Indonesia's feared Kopassus special forces, military sources say. Some were captured carrying Kopassus identity cards and many others are believed to be still active in the territory, according to Australian officers of Interfet.
Interfet soldiers involved in the operations said it quickly became clear that these men were different from other militia suspects. They are to be kept in detention and eventually offered back to the Indonesian military.
"But how can they accept them back without admitting that they sent them here in the first place?" one Australian officer commented.
Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili said yesterday the deployment of the peacekeepers, who now number 4,500, had been too slow and called for them to be reinforced. In the eight days since peacekeepers arrived in East Timor, "they could have occupied the whole territory" and sealed off the border with West Timor in order to keep out anti-independence militia, he said.
The East Timorese resistance leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao extended the hand of friendship to Indonesia yesterday and said independent East Timor would welcome investment and guarantee legitimate property rights.
he urged the government to transfer authority over East Timor to the UN wihtout waiting for parliament to ratify the territory's vote for independence. Mr Gusmao rejected criticism of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for holding the vote.
Mr Gusmao was speaking after talks with Mr Annan, who was due to meet the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, later yesterday. Speaking in East Timor, the resistance figure, Mr Leandro Isaac, said an amnesty offer by the independence leader, Mr Gusmao, had been overtaken by events. "We want justice for the people responsible for these crimes against humanity," said Mr Isaac, who is co-ordinator for the National Council of Resistance for East Timor (CNRT), headed by Mr Gusmao.
The US Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, who is to visit Jakarta later this week, said on his way to Australia he would make it clear to Indonesia's leaders that Washington expects it to clamp down on the militias.
In Dili, where the presence for the past eight days of international peacekeepers has reduced the threat from the militia, refugees started trickling home. Aid workers fear the tide could soon become a flood they will not be able to cope with because of the lack of housing, water and electricity.