Driving home last night, it was clear that something was up. You notice the small groups of 3 or 4 young guys idling outside front gates to residences and at ends of alleyways, all at a heightened state of awareness. I was with a recent arriver who had no idea what I was talking about when I said “Something is up”.

There was large plume of smoke coming from the heliport area and a phone call soon after from a Timorese friend confirmed that there was a fair bit of action going on. It all seemed to occur at about the same time around 9pm – the port IDP camp, Kampung Alor, Bairo Pite, Balide and Caiculidun were mentioned. The plume at the heliport is said to be a Molotov cocktail lobbed over the fence near the north-east corner (nearest Tiger Fuel).

There has not been much follow-up info but it represents the most active rough stuff for 3 or 4 months. There seems to be a bit more chopper work tonight but it comes and goes anyway. I noticed the APCs (armoured patrol carriers) doing the rounds over the weekend but they have to turn over the engines sometime.