Dili – Violence erupted on the streets of the East Timorese capital today as two groups pelted each other with stones, forcing residents in the area to flee their homes.

The disturbance occurred between two groups of youths from different regions of East Timor near the Comoro market at about 2pm local time, witnesses said.

They said the incident appeared to follow the beating of a man the previous day in the Aimutin da Lurumata area.

"This stone throwing is a follow up to yesterday's incident where several drunken youths beat up a man called Joaoa at a party in Lurumata," said Damiao Amaral, 26, a student who witnessed the violence. Family and friends of the attacked man, from the eastern part of the country, had sought to avenge him, he said.

About 100 families mostly from the western part of East Timor living in Lurumata fled the violence and sought shelter at the Dom Bosco seminary or with family elsewhere in Aimutin, he said. Police disbanded the fighters, he said.

Meanwhile, the civil registry office next to the Fatuhada police post in Dili was burned by unidentified men today, witnesses said. At least six international police had tried to douse the flames with fire extinguishers, the witnesses said. The police declined comment.

The incidents were the latest in a series that have shaken the city and its surroundings after then-prime minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed 600 soldiers in an army of 1400 early this year when they protested suspected discrimination against soldiers from the west of the tiny country.

The violence, which later degenerated into conflicts pitting East Timorese from the western and eastern parts, prompted the deployment of international peace keeping forces in May to restore security in the capital of the fledgling nation.