Chaos Engulfs East Timor's Capital

Youths fire sling shots during a street battle in Dili, East Timor. Foreign troops struggled to quell the violence. (By Mark Baker -- Associated Press)

DILI, East Timor, May 30 -- East Timor's president assumed emergency national security powers Tuesday after machete-wielding mobs torched homes and ransacked buildings in the capital and desperate residents scuffled over scarce food.

Youths fired slingshots in running street battles as Australian troops tried without apparent success to quell the violence by halting and disarming gangs hiding their faces with T-shirts.

What started as sporadic clashes between former soldiers and government troops has spiraled into open gang warfare. Violence has engulfed the capital, with at least 27 people killed and 100 wounded in the past week.

Aid workers expressed frustration at the insecurity despite the presence of more than 1,300 foreign troops from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.

President Xanana Gusmao said he was assuming "sole responsibility" for the country's national security to "prevent violence and avoid further fatalities."

The announcement came after cabinet officials said the defense and interior ministers had been fired.

With his government essentially not functioning and the armed forces in disarray, it was not clear whether Gusmao's statement would have any impact.

The government said it was authorizing foreign troops to detain suspects for 72 hours, rather than just disarm them.

Mobs armed with machetes burned houses and ransacked government offices, including the attorney general's, where they broke into the Serious Crimes Unit. Files on the defendants in the 1999 massacres that followed East Timor's vote for independence were stolen, Attorney General Longuinhos Monteiro said.

Justice Minister Domingos Sarmento said a contingent of 120 paramilitary police officers from Portugal, the former colonial ruler here, would help bolster the foreign force. The contingent is expected in the country by week's end, earlier than anticipated.

At a warehouse being used as a food distribution center, Australian troops struggled to maintain order as thousands of residents fought to get bags of rice.

The unrest was triggered by the firing in March of 600 soldiers from the 1,400-member army. The fired troops rioted last month before setting up positions in the hills surrounding the seaside capital.