East Timor sends more forces to hunt rebels

East Timor sent over 1,000 police and soldiers to sweep hills and raid homes on Friday in pursuit of rebels involved in last week's assassination attempts on the country's president and prime minister.

Rebel soldiers raided Jose Ramos-Horta's home last Monday, seriously wounding the president during a gunfight.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who escaped unhurt in a separate attack, ordered the country's military and police forces to form a joint command to arrest followers of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado.

Over 1,000 police officers and army soldiers paraded the streets of the capital, Dili, on Friday before embarking on the hunt for rebel soldiers in nearby hills.

"We promise we won't betray the confidence given to us. We promise we will restore peace and stability," military chief Taur Matan Ruak told a news conference.

Arrest warrants have been issued against 17 people suspected of involvement in the attack, including Gastao Salsinha who took command of rebel soldiers after Reinado was killed during the attack on Ramos-Horta.

Asia's youngest nation has been unable to achieve stability since hard-won independence in 2002. The army tore apart along regional lines in 2006, when about 600 soldiers were sacked, triggering factional violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes.

Foreign troops were sent to restore order in the former Portuguese colony of about one million people, which gained full independence from Indonesia after a U.N.-sponsored vote in 1999 that was marred by violence.