Reinforcements flooded into East Timor yesterday to enforce a state of emergency as President Ramos-Horta remained in a serious condition with gunshot wounds a day after an apparent coup attempt.

Eleven people are understood to have been questioned over the attack, in which the rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed leading a band of rebels that shot Dr Ramos-Horta up to three times. Xanana Gusmão, the Prime Minister, was uninjured in a related attack.

Zacharias da Costa, East Timor's Foreign Minister, said that the Government knew where the rogue forces were hiding and “sooner or later we will get close to them”. He added: “UN police, the Timorese national police, our defence force, together with international stabilisation forces ... have been co-ordinating so that all those who have perpetrated this horrendous act would be definitely prosecuted.”

Dili, the capital, was reportedly calm as about 1,600 United Nations police, backed by about 800 Australian soldiers, went on patrol amid fears of fresh violence by rebel soldiers loyal to Reinado. An Australian warship also arrived off the Dili coast as the first of 200 rapid-reaction troops arrived to reinforce security forces.

A state of emergency has been declared under which gatherings of more than eight people are banned and an 8pm to 6am curfew imposed.

Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, said that the streets were quiet but that this was liable to change. “The situation ... on the streets of Dili at present remains calm. This, however, is a very fluid environment,” he said.

The first cracks appeared in the international alliance in East Timor yesterday when Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, commander of the country's military, called for an investigation into the attacks and questioned the role of international forces.

“There has been a lack of capacity shown by the international forces who have primary responsibility for the security within Timor Leste (East Timor),” he told a news conference.

He also urged the public and media to persuade the rebels, who had fled into the jungle, to return for talks.

The criticism came as Australia's Foreign Minister was forced to defend a decision last year to call off a manhunt for Reinado on the request of the Government of East Timor, which has since sought a negotiated settlement with the rebel leader.

The army split along regional lines in 2006, provoking factional violence that killed 37 people, displaced 150,000 and resulted in the fall of the Government. Reinado led a band of deserters who demanded improved working conditions and promotion structures in the military and was also due to go on trial in absentia for his alleged role in several deadly shootings during this period.

In Darwin, northern Australia, surgeons operated on Dr Ramos-Horta for three hours overnight to remove bullet fragments and repair wounds to his chest and shoulder. Dr Len Notaros, the general manager of Royal Darwin Hospital, said that the wounds indicated that the President had been shot two or three times. The most serious wound was to the lower part of his right lung near his liver, and would require more surgery tomorrow.

“His condition remains extremely serious but by the same token, stable,” Dr Notaros said. “The next few days will be the telling point.”

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