Australian police injured in East Timor

Two Australian policemen have been injured in the capital of East Timor after a mob of youths attacked them with rocks.

A Portuguese police officer said the Australian police fired live rounds into the air and called in Portuguese police reinforcements who shot rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

The AFP newsagency reported the three patrol cars that the Australian police were travelling in "were practically destroyed" in the attack.

Australian police later arrested three of the youths who allegedly attacked them and closed the road leading from the centre of Dili to the capital's international airport, near where the attack happened.

The Australian police are part of a multi-national effort to help restore stability to the troubled nation, which was rocked by riots earlier this year.

- RADIO AUSTRALIA