TIMELINE: East Timor dogged by unrest since independence

(Reuters) - Australian troops began arriving in East Timor on Tuesday to help enforce a state of emergency declared after a double assassination attempt that left the tiny nation's president in hospital with triple gunshot wounds.

Here is a timeline showing the political instability that has dogged East Timor since independence in 2002:

- May 20, 2002: East Timor becomes an independent nation, after a period of U.N. administration following an historic 1999 vote that ends Indonesia's post-1975 occupation. Former guerrilla leader and independence hero Xanana Gusmao becomes president.

- Dec 4: Capital Dili under curfew after rioting blamed on regrouping Indonesian-backed militiamen. Several people are shot dead in clashes and the prime minister's house is burned down.

- May 19, 2003: United Nations extends mandate of 3,800-strong U.N. Mission in East Timor (UNMISET) for a year.

- March 9, 2005: Indonesia and East Timor launch joint truth commission to address 1999's bloody rampage which saw about 1,000 killed, mostly by pro-Jakarta militia.

- April 28: U.N. Security Council votes to keep scaled-back U.N. presence in East Timor for another year.

- Feb 8, 2006: Hundreds of soldiers, many of them former independence fighters, go on strike over pay and alleged discrimination.

- March 16: Premier and military chief Mari Alkatiri sacks 600 of the country's 1,400-strong army on charges of desertion. The move inflames the country's east-west divide and unleashes months of chaos which see an estimated 100,000 people displaced and 37 killed.

- May 25: The first of 2,500 peacekeepers from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal arrive to quell violence.

- July 10: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta sworn in as interim prime minister. Two weeks after Alkatiri steps down amid accusations he was responsible for the crisis.

- August 30, 2006: Major Alfredo Reinado, one of the figureheads of the May revolt, walks out of a Dili jail with 50 other inmates, embarrassing security forces.

- March 4, 2007: Reinado escapes a raid by foreign troops on his hideout, but four people are killed in the ensuing gunbattle.

- March 5: Thousands of people take to the streets, burning tires and blocking roads, to protest against the attempt to capture Reinado.

- May 20: Ramos-Horta sworn in as country's second president after elections.

- June 30: Parliamentary election sees former ruling party Fretilin win 21/65 parliament seats, far short of majority needed to rule. Gusmao's party, the CNRT, takes 18 seats.