Dili, February 11
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot at and critically wounded at his home in Dili today in an assassination attempt by rebel soldiers that analysts said could spark renewed violence and political chaos in the tiny nation.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped injury in another shooting also today morning, officials said, but the exact motives for the attacks and details of what happened remained unclear till late today.

Australia, which was invited to send in forces to maintain security following fresh violence in 2006, pledged to send more troops to Asia’s youngest nation after the apparently coordinated attack on East Timor’s two most famous independence figures.

Canberra has played a key role in helping with East Timor’s security, fearing a civil war in its immediate backyard and disruption to vital energy interests in the area.

Residents in Dili reported the capital appeared calm and Gusmao said Ramos-Horta was in a stable condition after the attack in which a key rebel leader, Alfredo Reinado, was killed.

The President, who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with compatriot Bishop Carlos Belo for their non-violent struggle for East Timor’s independence from Indonesian occupation, was operated on by an Australian military medical team in Dili before being flown to Darwin in northern Australia for treatment.

“This is a serious attempt on a democratic state,” Gusmao told a news conference. He later said that he had asked the acting president, deputy speaker of Parliament Vicente Guterres, to impose a curfew in the capital until Wednesday.

An Australian medical official said Ramos-Horta, who was flown to Darwin on life support and in an induced coma, was stable but would undergo further surgery for two bullet wounds. — Reuters