East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was severely wounded in a coordinated attack carried out by rebel forces, officials said. The attack targeted the country’s president and its Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. The latter escaped unharmed after the Monday attacks, but the Nobel laureate President of East Timor was shot twice in the back.

According to the latest reports on Ramos-Horta’s situation released by authorities, one of the bullets tore through his abdomen, Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa said.

The President’s condition is critical at this time, but he was stabilized with the use of emergency surgery in a military hospital, said Ian Badham a spokesman for Australia's CareFlight, a company which dispatches medical teams via air ambulances.

East Timor’s President will most likely be transferred to another military hospital in Darwin, Australia, where he might undergo further surgery.

"Two bullet wounds can certainly cause a lot of medical damage," Badham said.

There were other casualties in the rebel attack. A presidential bodyguard was killed in the exchange of fire and two attackers also died of wounds. One of those attackers was rebel leader Maj. Alfredo Reinado, Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Gutteres told CNN.

Prime Minister Gusmao will convene an emergency meeting of the government in Dili.

Australia vowed to send more troops to Asia's youngest nation after these attacks that targeted two of the country's most prominent figures.

"This is a serious attempt on a democratic state," Gusmao told a news conference.

East Timor, a island with about 1 million inhabitants is a former Portuguese colony that gained its independence in 2002 in a U.N. sponsored referendum after more than two decades of brutal Indonesian occupation.

However, since then, it has had serious problems achieving stability.

The country’s current president received the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize along with compatriot Bishop Carlos Belo for their peaceful great effort for East Timor's independence.

Indonesia took control of the East Timor for about a quarter century. During their rule more than 100,000 people were killed, according to human rights groups.