Free Republic

Curfew in East Timor following assasination attempt February 11th, 2008 by Nancy Reyes Nobel prize winner and president of East Timor has been airlifted to an Australian hospital following an assasination attempt connected with an attempted coup. In the meanwhile, his country is under a curfew. The accused assassin is an ex General, Alfredo Reinado, who was killed in the attempted assassination, along with one rebel and one of the president’s bodyguards. An hour later, the country’s Prime minister’s motorcade was attacked. The unrest by disaffected militants has been growing in the last year or two. Australia will send more...

AUSTRALIAN troops came under fire in East Timor yesterday as they faced down armed thugs and rescued women, children and wounded civilians. Late yesterday they stopped machete-wielding mobs charging a hotel in the capital, Dili, where Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was about to hold a news conference. The troops, who had to call in reinforcements, disarmed gangs carrying machetes, knives, spiked poles, slingshots and arrows. No one was hurt. The Australians took control without firing a shot. Earlier, troops appeared overwhelmed before reinforcements, backed by armoured personnel carriers, moved quickly into Dili's smoke-filled streets. The street fighting was the worst...