Ramos Horta faces more surgery

Ramos-Horta was critically wounded in an assassination attempt in Dili yesterday and airlifted to hospital in Darwin on life support and in an induced coma.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unhurt when rebels fired on his motorcade as part of a co-ordinated attack on the nation's leadership.

Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed during the attack on Ramos-Horta near the president's Dili home.

Up to 200 additional Australian troops and police were being sent to East Timor, where a state of emergency has been declared following yesterday's failed coup attempt.

Dili was quiet this morning, residents reported.

Ramos-Horta, 58, is expected to make a full recovery following the assassination attempt, the head of Royal Darwin Hospital said.

Hospital general manager Dr Len Notaras said three surgeons operated on the Nobel Peace prize winner for two to three hours last night, dressing bullet wounds and removing shrapnel, according to nzherald.co.nz.

"I would expect that he is quite resilient and I expect that recovery would be a full recovery," Notaras told ABC Radio.

"That is not to, in any way, underestimate the severity of the injuries and the nastiness of the gunshot wounds.

"They are terrible injuries ... but we are hoping to give him the best chance at a full recovery."

Notaras said Ramos-Horta was on a ventilator to assist his breathing and his most serious injury was a bullet wound in his right lung. Ramos-Horta also has a small bullet fragment still in his body that posed no threat.

The president, who remains in an induced coma, will undergo further surgery.

"The most severe is a wound to his lower right chest, there were soft tissue wounds to the back and around the area of the ... shoulder blade," said Notaras.

"We'll have to go back to theatre, probably in the next 24-26 hours, for some more staged surgery but at this stage we are looking quite stable."

The nzherald.online quoted Notaras as saying the injuries were caused by a "high-velocity weapon" but it was too early to determine whether there were two or three gunshot wounds.

"It's either two or three bullets that have been involved in this," he said.

"Fragments of those bullets have been removed and retained for forensic investigation."

About 200 fast reaction troops from Australia and more police headed to Dili today in support of Australian-led international forces, who have put the capital under a 48-hour curfew.

The troops, from the ready-reaction force in Townsville, along with Australian Federal Police and HMAS Perth were expected to reach Dili later today.

by the New Zealand Herald