East Timor president wounded in gun attack on home

East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta was wounded in a pre-dawn attack on his home that killed a guard.

Army spokesman Major Domingos da Camara said it was unclear what condition Mr Ramos-Horta – a Nobel Peace laureate – was in.

House guards fired back, killing one of the attackers, a rebel soldier wanted on murder charges for a flare up of violence in 2006, Major da Camara said.

Two cars passed Mr Ramos-Horta’s house on the outskirts of the capital, Dili, at around 4am local time Monday (9am Irish time) and began shooting, he said.

The attacker who was killed, Alfredo Reinado, had threatened to use force against the government in November if it failed to concede to demands by a group of army deserters.

Reinado was indicted for his alleged role in several deadly shootings between the rebel army troops and police units in April and May 2006. The fighting spilled over into mayhem that left 37 people dead and drove 155,000 others from their homes.

Calm was restored by foreign troops and peaceful elections were held in which Mr Ramos-Horta was elected president, but low-level violence had continued.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, gained independence in 2002 after more than two decades of brutal Indonesian occupation. Its new political leaders have vowed to tackle rampant poverty and restore damaged relations between the country’s police and army.

Mr Ramos-Horta shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo for their resistance to Indonesian rule.