FBI agents arrive in East Timor

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FBI agents have arrived in the troubled nation of East Timor, to assist authorities investigate last week's apparent kidnap attempt of the country's president and prime minister.

President Ramos-Horta, 58, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner, suffered gunshot wounds to his back and chest and remains in a serious but stable condition in a Darwin, Australia hospital. 

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unharmed.

Both attacks appear to have been carried out by rebel soldiers whose charismatic leader Maj. Alfredo Reinado lost his life in crossfire. Maj. Reinado had led a rebel group of around 600 former East Timorese soldiers since the country's political unrest in May 2006.

U.S. Ambassadors Hans George Klemm told reporters the agents will begin their investigations on Thursday.

Introducing the agents to the acting Prime Minister Fernando de Araujo, the ambassador said the FBI were here for an “unlimited” amount of time to help the government apprehend the rebels and resolve the crisis.
Seventeen arrest warrants have been issue in the wake of the attack.

Meanwhile Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston has called on the remainder of the rebel force, hiding in hills behind the capital Dili, to surrender.

"We would like to bring these people to justice peacefully without confrontation, and I encourage any of Reinado's formerfollowers to surrender to the authorities in East Timor," he told an Australian Senate hearing.