2008 East Timorese assassination attempts

On the morning of 11 February 2008, a group of armed men led by Alfredo Reinado, a former East Timorese soldier who had deserted the military in 2006 amid complaints of regional discrimination, entered the Dili residence of President José Ramos-Horta before dawn. According to a UN preliminary investigation, the group consisted of 12 or 13 men in military uniform who restrained the guard on duty and searched the residence for Ramos-Horta, who was out jogging at the time. During the incursion, Reinado was shot dead by a member of the Timor Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL) guard detail, who said he fired at Reinado's head because Reinado was wearing a bulletproof vest. Another rebel, Leopoldino Mendonça Exposto, was also killed in the exchange.

Ramos-Horta was warned of the attack by phone and by a passerby, but returned toward his home on foot with two bodyguards. As he approached the residence, rebels lying in wait opened fire, hitting him with two gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the stomach. A soldier who drove into the line of fire to protect him was also critically injured. Ramos-Horta was found by Portuguese security personnel near a bamboo fence, given emergency treatment, and evacuated first to an Australian field hospital in Dili and then to Royal Darwin Hospital in Australia for surgery. He remained hospitalized in Darwin for more than a month, being discharged on 19 March, and did not return to Dili until 17 April.

Separately, a group of rebels reportedly led by Lieutenant Gastão Salsinha attacked Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão's motorcade and surrounded his residence, where his wife Kirsty Sword-Gusmão and their children were present but not harmed; they were later evacuated by Portuguese security forces. Gusmão himself was not at the residence and escaped unharmed after abandoning his car, which had been fired upon, and fleeing into the bush. He declared a 48-hour state of emergency, later extended multiple times by Parliament, and characterized the events as an attempted coup.

In the aftermath, East Timorese authorities sought the arrest of numerous individuals connected to the attacks. Angelita Pires, described as Reinado's lawyer, was arrested on 17 February on suspicion of withholding information. Amaro da Silva Susar surrendered on 1 March, stating he had taken part in the attack on Ramos-Horta but had not fired the shots. Ramos-Horta's brother, Arsénio Ramos-Horta, said the president had identified a man named Marcelo Caetano as his shooter, though the president's office declined to confirm this while investigations continued. Gastão Salsinha denied the attacks were assassination attempts and negotiated a surrender in the weeks following. Months later, an autopsy report concluding that Reinado was shot at very close range in the back of the head raised questions about the official account of his death.