Rebel soldiers attacked President Jose Ramos-Horta's house in East Timor early Monday, wounding him in the stomach. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader was in "stable condition" after the shooting, the prime minister said.

Gunmen also opened fire on a motorcade carrying Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao at about the same time but no one was injured, Gusmao said.

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was wounded by rebel soldiers on Sunday. He's shown here in 2006.
(Firdia Lisanwati/Associated Press)

"The state came under attack," he said, declining to elaborate.

The events plunged the recently independent nation into renewed uncertainty after violence in 2006 killed 37 people, displaced more than 150,000 others and led to the collapse of the government.

Ramos-Horta was being operated on at an Australian army hospital in the capital, Dili, presidential adviser Agusto Zunior told the Associated Press.

Two cars carrying rebels passed Ramos-Horta's house on the outskirts of the capital around 7 a.m. local time and began shooting, army spokesman Maj. Domingos da Camara said. Guards returned fire, he said.

Rebel leader killed

Notorious rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed in the attack, as was one of Ramos-Horta's guards, da Camara said.

Reinado was due to go on trial in absentia for his alleged role in several deadly shootings involving police and military units during the violence in 2006. He had evaded capture since then and refused repeated pleas by the government to surrender.

Australian-led troops restored calm following the 2006 turmoil and peaceful elections were held in which Ramos-Horta was elected president. But low-level violence has continued in the country of one million people since then.

Deposed prime minister Mari Alkatiri has maintained Ramos-Horta's government was illegitimate. His political party immediately condemned Monday's attack in a statement released to the media.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, gained independence in 2002 after voting to break free from more than two decades of brutal Indonesian occupation in a UN-sponsored ballot.

Ramos-Horta shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with countryman Bishop Carlos Belo for leading a nonviolent struggle against the occupation.