Kyodo News Service

September 13, 2002 Friday

U.N. peacekeepers in E. Timor move to ward off embassy attacks

DILI, Sept. 13

The U.N. peacekeeping force in East Timor said Friday it has established checkpoints and placed containers around the U.S. and Australian embassies and its own buildings and compounds to counter possible attacks.

'This decision was made after U.N. New York informed us early Wednesday morning that they had received reliable information that hostile action might be taken against U.N. staff or property in Timor -Leste (East Timor) ,' the force said in a statement.

The statement did not elaborate on the nature of the possible 'hostile action,' or whether the information indicated that U.S. and Australian diplomatic staff and property were also potential targets.

It said no time line has been set for an end of the extra security precautions.

Ahead of Wednesday's first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, the U.S. closed several of its diplomatic missions in Asia, including its embassies in Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia, saying it had credible information that they were at risk of terrorist attack.

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