East Timor Extends State of Emergency

DILI, East Timor — The rebels jumped from two cars, firing machine guns as they stormed the compound of President Ramos-Horta. “Traitor! Traitor!” they shouted, hunting for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.In one of the most detailed accounts yet of Monday’s assassination attempt, a guard described how he killed fugitive rebel commander Alfredo Reinado before the president returned from an early morning walk on the beach. “I shouted Alfredo’s name and then opened fire at his head with my machine gun because he was wearing a bulletproof vest,” the guard told the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is prohibited from talking to the press about the attack.“I fired many times, I don’t know how many times,” the guard, who was back on duty Tuesday in his uniform, said. But gunmen lying in a ditch then shot the president in the chest and stomach. Along with a separate strike against the prime minister an hour later, the events plunged East Timor into fresh crisis just six years after it voted to break free from decades of brutal Indonesian rule.Doctors yesterday said Mr. Ramos-Horta — who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign against the 24-year occupation — was stable and recovering well from gunshot wounds, but remained in “extremely serious” condition at an Australian hospital.Parliament extended a 48-hour state of emergency by 10 days until February 23 due to concerns about more unrest. Funerals for the rebels will be held today and plans were under way to issue arrest warrants for 18 suspects in the shootings.The attack on Mr. Ramos-Horta was led by Reinado, who was wanted on murder charges for his role in a 2006 surge of violence that left dozens dead. A raid on his mountain base by Australian troops killed five of his supporters, but Reinado escaped.Last month, he threatened to march on the capital with his men if the government ignored demands to reinstate hundreds of mutinous soldiers.

East Timor Extends State of Emergency

East Timor Extends State of Emergency

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