The fight, between rival gangs KORK and PSHT, also resulted in 13 houses and seven motorbikes being destroyed in fire.

He said that police had also not responded to a violent clash between rival martial art members PSHT and Kera Sakti in Baucau that had left one person dead two months ago.  

Leondro Lobato, a member of parliament from National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) , said he had reports of people in Leorema who were traumatised by gang violence and were “fleeing to Ermera.”

Lobato called for a permanent police station to be set up in Leorema.