SYDNEY - TIMOR Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has regained consciousness from a drug-induced coma since being shot 10 days ago in an assassination attempt and is talking to his family in an Australian hospital.

'Doctors are pleased with his progress,' a spokeswoman for Royal Darwin Hospital said on Thursday.

Nobel laureate Mr Ramos-Horta was shot and critically wounded at his home in Dili last week in an attack by rebel soldiers.

Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by followers of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was killed during the attack on Mr Ramos-Horta.

Mr Ramos-Horta, 58, was shot twice in the back and chest. He was put on life support, placed in a drug-induced coma and airlifted to Darwin where he underwent a series of operations.

Darwin hospital staff could not say whether Mr Ramos-Horta would require further surgery or how long he would remain in hospital.

Arrest warrants have been issued against 17 people suspected of being involved in the attack while Timor's police and international troops have been hunting for rebels hiding in hills near Dili. Around 200 fast reaction troops from Australia and more police were sent to the capital Dili after the attacks.

Reinado deserted the army in May 2006 to join about 600 former soldiers sacked earlier that year amid claims they were discriminated against because they were from the western part of Timor Leste. Fighting killed 37 people, drove 150,000 from their homes and foreign troops were sent to restore order.

Timor Leste gained full independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a UN-sponsored vote in 1999 marred by violence.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and many thousands of Timorese died during the brutal occupation that followed. -- REUTERS