Extra Australian troops arrive in East Timor

Australian troops backed by a warship arrived in East Timor today after rebels shot and seriously wounded the president.

The government declared a state of emergency amid fears of more unrest and political turmoil triggered by assassination attempts against President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Mr Ramos-Horta was transferred to an Australian hospital where surgeons operated on him for three hours overnight to remove bullet fragments and repair his chest wounds.

"His condition remains extremely serious but by the same token, stable. The next few days will be the telling point. I believe he is extremely lucky to be alive," said a spokesman for the Darwin hospital.

Mr Ramos-Horta, 58, who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent resistance to the decades-long Indonesian occupation, was shot in the chest and stomach close to his house by rebel soldiers yesterday.

His guards returned fire, killing wanted rebel leader Alfredo Reinado and one of his men.

Gunmen attacked Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's motorcade an hour later but he escaped unhurt.

East Timor is a country of a million people that won independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a UN-sponsored ballot. The nation has struggled to achieve stability, especially since an outbreak of violence and political turmoil in 2006.

The first of a planned contingent of 120 Australian troops touched down in the capital of Dili to strengthen a foreign military peacekeeping mission that has been in the country since the 2006 unrest.

Earlier, about 30 Australian police officers arrived to boost a UN force already on the half-island country, while a Navy warship also moored off the coast in sight of Dili harbour.

Acting President Vicente Gutterres announced the two-day emergency in an address on national television. The order bans demonstrations, gives police extended powers of search of arrest and calls for a night-time curfew.

"Our country is right now in an extraordinary situation where a state of emergency will bring us back to normality," Gutterres said. "I ask for your help."

As he spoke, international soldiers and police patrolled Dili's streets and searched cars at roadblocks. Most shops and businesses were open and traffic was normal. There were no immediate reports of unrest.

East Timor's army chief, Taur Matan Ruak, questioned how the attack happened given the heavy presence of foreign police and troops stationed on the tiny island.

"How is it possible that cars transporting armed people have entered the city and executed an approach to the residences of the prime minister and president without having been detected?" he asked journalists.

The bullet fragments will be handed to Australia Federal Police for the investigation into the shooting, Notaros said. At least one fragment was being left in his body, and was not thought to be life-threatening, he said.

Reinado was among 600 rebel soldiers dismissed by the government in 2006 - a move that triggered battles between security forces that later spilled over into gang fighting and ethnic unrest.

At least 37 people were killed and more than 150,000 people forced from their homes in the unrest, which also led to the resignation of the country's first post-independence prime minister.

Reinado was arrested but escaped from prison after several months.

He was charged with murder in connection with the unrest, but remained in hiding and threatened insurrection against the government - a stance that made him popular among some disaffected East Timorese youth.