East Timor's military say a group of rebels who launched attacks on the countries leaders only just evaded military capture earlier this week.

Stephanie March reports from Dili that camouflage uniforms, food and blankets were among the items left behind by a group of rebels when their mountain camp was disturbed by East Timor's military earlier this week.

Lieutenant Colonel Filomeno Paxiao says his troops were only 70 metres away from the camp when the group fled.

The troops didn't fire at the group, which they suspect included rebel leader Gastao Salsinha, because they're under orders to capture not to kill.

The Lieutenant Colonel says Salsinha is not the enemy and his men will only fire on the group in self defence or if the rebels fire first.

He says the 31 rebels have now divided into three smaller groups and are hiding in the mountains amongst dense coffee plantations where heavy rain is making the operation to capture them more difficult.

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