Tuesday, April 3 5:01 PM SGT

UN Peacekeepers, Villages Attacked Along E Timor Border

DILI, East Timor (AP)--New violence broke out along East Timor's border with Indonesia when unidentified gunmen threw grenades and fired shots at U.N. peacekeepers and villages in five separate clashes, officials said Tuesday.

No peacekeepers were injured in Monday's incidents. However, an East Timorese woman was wounded when attackers fired at her house.

Peacekeeping spokesman Australian army Capt. John Liston said it wasn't clear whether the attacks on Monday were carried out by pro-Jakarta militia, that were responsible for devastating East Timor after it voted to break away from Indonesia in 1999.

However, he said the incidents all took place along the border with Indonesian West Timor.

He said Fijian soldiers stationed near the East Timor town of Suai were shot at five times. The peacekeepers returned fire, but the gunmen escaped.

In another three incidents, unidentified assailants threw grenades into villages and fired shots at houses, Liston said.

He said the grenades were of the same type used by militiamen in past border attacks.

On Monday morning, an Australian member of the U.N. peacekeeping force fired on two suspected militiamen near the West Timor border.

Groups of armed pro-Indonesian militia have infiltrated East Timor since the arrival of international peacekeepers in 1999.

Last year, two peacekeepers were killed in militia attacks close to the border.

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