Within hours of the results , paramilitary groups had begun attacking people and setting fires around the capital Dili . Foreign journalists and election observers fled , and tens of thousands of East Timorese took to the mountains . Islamic gangs attacked Dili 's Catholic Diocese building , killing two dozen people ; the next day , the headquarters of the ICRC was attacked and burned to the ground . Almost one hundred people were killed later in Suai , and reports of similar massacres poured in from around East Timor . The UN withdrew most of its personnel , but the Dili compound had been flooded with refugees . Four UN workers refused to evacuate unless the refugees were withdrawn as well , insisting they would rather die at the hands of the paramilitary groups . At the same time , Indonesian troops and paramilitary gangs forced over 200,000 people into West Timor , into camps described by Human Rights Watch as " deplorable conditions "
Almost one hundred people were killed
Suai Church massacre
Indonesian occupation of East Timor