20 dead in East Timor violence
At least 20 people have died since violence erupted in Dili last week but the body count has halted since international peacekeeping forces tightened their grip on the East Timor capital, hospital officials said yesterday.
The director of central Dili's Guido Valadares Hospital, Antonio Caleres, said 20 people had died since the violence flared on May 23.
Most of the deaths occurred in two incidents -- one involving nine police and army officers shot outside the justice ministry Thursday, the other an arson attack on a suburban home early Saturday that killed five women and a child.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Caleres said there had been no deaths since Saturday, a day after the first Australian troops landed in the strife-torn nation.
An international force including Australian, New Zealand, Malaysian and Portuguese personnel is in the process of restoring order to the country.
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