Fierce fighting eased in East Timor overnight as Australian commandos secured the main airport ahead of the arrival of hundreds more troops today.
Nine people were killed and 27 wounded yesterday in clashes that were sparked by the East Timorese government's decision to sack almost half the country's military after they went on strike to protest against poor conditions.
Most of those killed were shot when rebel army elements opened fire on unarmed police being escorted out of Dili police headquarters after a negotiated ceasefire, officials said.
At least six people had already been killed in Dili, the capital, before Thursday after the protests by many of the almost 600 dismissed soldiers spiralled into violent clashes with government troops and police.
But Australian officials and East Timor's ambassador to Indonesia said the fighting appeared to have quietened down after Australia's first troop contingents landed yesterday.
Australian forces would move into key sites in Dili to separate fighting factions who had agreed to leave the city, East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said.
East Timor, which shares a land border with Indonesia's West Timor, became the world's newest nation in 2002 after a 1999 vote to break free from nearly 25 years of Indonesian rule.
The tiny country, which has barely more land mass than the Bahamas and is one of the world's poorest nations despite potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves, requested international help on Wednesday to quell violence.
Australia is sending 1,300 troops into Dili, and New Zealand is sending two military aircraft and some troops to the northern city of Darwin to assist with evacuations and troops transport.