JAKARTA, April 28 (Reuters) - An Indonesian TV channel plans to sue East Timor's president unless he clarifies remarks alleging that one of its journalists helped a rebel leader to travel to Jakarta for an interview, a lawyer said on Monday.

Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed after leading a group of mutinous soldiers in a February raid on Jose Ramos-Horta's house in which the East Timor president was seriously injured.

Ramos-Horta had accused Desi Anwar, a journalist and presenter for Indonesian news channel Metro TV, of helping Reinado to cross East Timor's border using false documents and travel to Jakarta for the interview.

In a statement issued by his office on Monday, Ramos-Horta said it had been wrong to name Anwar but said that Reinado's trip to Jakarta for the interview with Metro must be investigated.

Reinado had appeared last year on a talk show hosted by Metro's then chief news editor Andy Noya, but his whereabouts at that time were not disclosed.

"Major Alfredo Reinado was the subject of an arrest warrant. As far as the authority of Timor Leste were able to ascertain Mr Alfredo Reinado did not posses a valid passport and a visa to enter Indonesia," the statement from Ramos-Horta's office said, referring to the official name of East Timor.

The statement said reports on Metro TV suggesting Ramos-Horta had accused Anwar of involvement in the assassination attempt were misleading.

Metro TV's lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, said he would send a formal request demanding Ramos-Horta clarify his statements.

"We will issue a caveat because we haven't received his clarification formally," he told Reuters, adding that a lawsuit would be launched if Ramos-Horta ignored the request.

Ramos-Horta has returned to East Timor after more than two months of treatment in Australia. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped a separate raid unharmed on the same day.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on April 18 that police had arrested three East Timorese over the attacks.

Ramos-Horta said this month the investigation into the attacks found that they had had contact with elements in Indonesia but denied that Jakarta or its military were involved.

Asia's youngest nation, East Timor, has been unable to find stability since its hard-won independence from Indonesia in 2002.

The army tore apart along regional lines in 2006, when about 600 soldiers were sacked, triggering factional violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes.

More than 2,500 foreign troops and police remain in the country to help local security forces maintain stability.

(Reporting by Ahmad Pathoni; Editing by Ed Davies and John Chalmers)

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