Guerilla leader killed by military

DILI – A former East Timor guerrilla leader and long-time opponent to Xanana Gusmao has been killed in a security operation, the government said, raising concern about unrest in Asia’s youngest nation.

Mauk Moruk, widely considered a symbol of resistance against the government of the gas-rich but impoverished nation, was killed in a joint police and military operation in the Fatulia area on Saturday.

“Every effort was made during the operation to avoid this outcome,” a government spokesman said in a statement, calling for calm.

“Regrettably the operation was unable to avoid a confrontation resulting in an exchange of gunfire.”

The spokesman added that there were “two other fatalities and a number of injuries” but did not identify them.

After decades under harsh Indonesian rule, when rebels battled Indonesian forces from the hills, the former Portuguese colony has struggled to develop economically since independence in 2002.

Moruk, born Paulino Gama, often confronted another old guerrilla leader, Xanana Gusmao, the country’s first president who stepped down as prime minister earlier this year, challenging the government to do more about poverty and unemployment.

The government said in a statement in May that a joint operation targeting Moruk’s Maubere Revolutionary Council (KRM) began in March following attacks on police.

Among those was an attack on a police compound by a group equipped with firearms and explosives which left four security personnel injured.

It described the KRM as illegal and said the joint operation was to “prevent and suppress criminal actions from illegal groups”.

A significant number of the group’s members had surrendered, the statement said.