Australian troops backed by tanks, helicopters and airplanes have stormed the East Timor town where a rebel leader is holed up, entering his stronghold, a witness said on Sunday. Residents were fleeing the town of Same, where Major Alfredo Reinado has been under siege for several days, a local radio correspondent told AFP.
"Gunshots were heard between 2:00 and 4:00 am this morning but it is not yet clear who fired those shots. Australian troops already have control over the town," Julio Guterres said.
"Australian soldiers have already entered the place where Major Reinado and his men were holed up and are now strongly guarding the town of Same," he added.
Reinado, who led a band of breakaway soldiers last April and May when battles between security factions degenerated into rampant gang violence, has been under siege here along with 150 heavily armed supporters since Sunday.
Guterres said there was no immediate information on the whereabouts or fate of Reinado and his men, as no one was allowed near the former rebel stronghold.
He added that many residents are fleeing the town because of the gunshots, but gave no more details. At least two tanks, planes and helicopters were deployed in the attack, he said.
Non-local journalists have been barred entry to the town 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital, Dili, by security forces surrounding it.
Australian and United Nations security officials in Dili fear the outbreak of widespread violence, possibly even civil war, if Australian soldiers kill or injure the rebel leader.
Reinado was jailed over his role in the unrest that led to an Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) being called in last year, but escaped in a mass breakout from a Dili prison in August.
East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao gave international forces the green light for Reinado's capture after accusing him of stealing firearms from police posts last Sunday.
Reinado, the Australian-trained former head of East Timor's military police, has warned that if anything happened to him "people will rise up in their thousands," according to an Australian media report.
He backed down from vowing to fight to his death as the standoff developed last week, but on Friday he refused to negotiate with a senior government official by telephone, demanding face-to-face talks.
Up to 100 elite Australian troops were flown in as the stand-off escalated, according to Australian media reports.
In last year's violence, around 37 people were killed and more than 150,000 fled their homes. The government then asked for international help and Australian-led peacekeepers were dispatched.
In recent weeks there has been sporadic outbreaks of turmoil with two men hacked to death in late January and Australian soldiers shooting dead two youths who allegedly fired at them with steel arrows.
