Dili, East Timor ? International peacekeepers and troops from Australia and New Zealand were headed to East Timor Wednesday to help restore order after gunbattles between disgruntled ex-soldiers and the military killed two people and wounded nine.

The U.S. Embassy started evacuating nonessential personnel.

“We can’t control the situation,” Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said, adding that troops from Malaysia and Portugal also had been asked to help “disarm renegade troops and police rebelling against the state.”

East Timor, the world’s newest nation, has been plagued by unrest since nearly 600 soldiers were fired earlier this year after going on strike to protest alleged discrimination in the military.