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| Down Under |
| Commandos secure E Timor airport |
| 2006-05-25 |
| Australian commandos have landed in East Timor in an effort to quell three days of increasing violence. About 150 troops secured the airport in the capital, Dili, amid reports of mounting casualties in the city. A further 1,300 Australians, and troops from Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal are also heading to East Timor. Reports say a number of people have died and many have been injured in Dili, where disgruntled ex-soldiers are fighting government troops. Australia's ABC radio reported that a fleet of ambulances were requested after a battle outside Dili's main police station. A UN official in the city described "constant gunfire" around the organisation's compound, and said the army was "on the rampage". "Nobody knows actually what's going to happen, because the law and order seems to be totally collapsed," Jawad Omar told ABC. A South Korean national was shot in the neck during the fighting and is recovering in hospital. East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta admitted on Wednesday that his government "could not control the situation". Australia has experience of providing military aid to East Timor, as it led a UN-military force into the country in 1999 to end the unrest sparked when the population voted for independence from Indonesia. |
| Posted by:Steve |