New Zealand Peacekeeper Slain in E. Timor

A soldier from New Zealand became the first U.N. peacekeeper to be killed in East Timor when he was shot in the head Monday during a clash with armed men, the U.N.’s top official in the territory said.

Pvt. Leonard Manning, 24, from the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, was part of a team tracking men who had reportedly crossed the border from Indonesian-ruled West Timor to East Timor.

The U.N. force has tried to guarantee security in East Timor since last year, when militias backed by sections of Indonesia’s military unleashed a bloody two-week rampage. The violence, which killed at least 300 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, came after an overwhelming majority of East Timorese voted in August for independence.