Word: australian
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When TIME visited the scene of the raid-a run-down former administrator's House at Same, about 50km south of Dili, which the rebels took over on Feb. 26-Australian soldiers were still manning checkpoints on nearby access roads. Parts of the building's roof had been blown off, apparently by the downdraft from the two Black Hawk helicopters used in the raid, and there were bullet holes in some trees along nearby roads. Two boxes of medical supplies and a generator appeared to have been abandoned by the rebels...
...Several hours after Reinado arrived in Same, Australian troops set up a cordon of checkpoints and roadblocks around his hilltop compound. Helicopters buzzed over the town and armored personnel carriers rumbled up the roads. "They were blocking the people," says Patricino dos Reis, a resident who sympathizes with Reinado. "It shocked us that they would carry out an operation while all the people were still in the town." Reinado told journalists he would fight to the death. "If you bring all the forces and point guns at me," he warned, "I will shoot you." Gusmao and the commander...
...first light, a troop helicopter landed on the hilltop and loaded the bodies on board; they were taken to the shipping container that serves as a morgue at the hospital in Dili. The Australians also took Nikson to the hospital, where he is in a stable condition and under arrest. Deolindo Barras' sister spent two days trying to locate her brother's body before it was brought to the morgue in a black body bag by Australian soldiers. Barros-who left a pregnant wife and three children-was very close to Reinado, she told TIME, "like a bodyguard...
...Dili, but he denied that the raid was a failure. As for the dead rebels, they were shot because "they posed immediate threat to the lives of the ISF members involved." Gusmao said the hunt for Reinado would continue and again called on him to give himself up. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said of the rebel leader, "His continued activities are a threat to the security of East Timor, and it is preferable that that threat be neutralized. The objective is to take him into custody and that is an objective we will go on pursuing...
...Meanwhile, news of the raid sparked violent protests, including an attempt by several hundred people to mass outside the Australian embassy. Demonstrators threw rocks at cars, set tires alight, and burned down several houses, including those of the Attorney-General and relatives of Gusmao . On March 8 Gusmao declared a state of emergency and put local troops back on the streets. Hearing of the development, rebel Nelson Galucho laughed and said: "The country's been in a state of emergency since last year." His leader, he says, has vowed to "liberate" the people of East Timor...