Dili – Rebel East Timorese soldiers raided a police post and seized a large haul of automatic weapons, the United Nations and local officials said Monday, raising fresh security concerns in the tiny nation ahead of elections in April.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties in the raid on Sunday led by rebel commander Maj. Alfredo Reinado in Maliana district, which is close to the border with Indonesia, said UN spokeswoman Alison Cooper.

Reinado and an unknown number of other men stole 23 automatic weapons, said Antonio da Crus of the country's border police, which joined foreign troops in searching for the attackers.

Reinado deserted East Timor's army last May with hundreds of other troops, triggering violence between rival security force factions that saw international troops arrive in East Timor and led to the downfall of then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

He escaped from jail last year after being arrested by Australian soldiers. Since then, authorities have tried to persuade him to give himself.

Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, who on Sunday announced he would run for president in April, said the raid "was a serious crime and there could now be no more dialogue" with Reinado.

Some fear the April elections could exacerbate tensions in the country, which remains wracked by political divisions and gang violence.

East Timor, home to just under a million people, won independence from years of brutal Indonesian occupation in 1999 following a UN sponsored referendum that was itself marked by violence.