Related: Malaysia sends advance military team to Timor Leste

    

Australian soldiers stand guard at the airport after they arrive in Dili on May 25, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

CANBERRA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday that the full deployment of 1,300 Australian troops will be in Timor-Leste quickly as a result of escalating violence there.

    He said the full deployment will be carried on despite a lack of officially signed-off rules of engagement with the Timor-Leste leaders who are nowhere to be found.

    Waiting for signatures could lead to significant further bloodshed, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio quoted Howard as saying.

    The Australian government has the signature of the nation's leaders on an agreement for Australian troops to secure the international airport in capital Dili, which has now been completed, but not to bring in the remainder of the 1,300 troops on standby.

    Howard said 150 Australian commandos have secured the airport in Dili and the guided missile frigate HMAS Adelaide has also arrived, pulling into Dili's harbor early this evening.

    "The situation is obviously fluid, I have little doubt that once all of our forces are there, there will be a significant return of stability and normality although there has been a loss of life and there's obviously great tension in Dili," Howard said.

    Howard said it would be part of the Australian troops' mission to locate Timor-Leste's leaders.

    Defense Minister Brendan Nelson told Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV that communications are very poor in Dili because of the chaotic nature of the conflict.

    "We've found it difficult to communicate effectively and we've not been able to communicate with Prime Minister Alkatiri," he said.

    Nelson said it is possible President Xanana Gusmao is in the hills outside the capital.

    He also said that "There have been deaths in Dili today." Enditem