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 SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - The slaying of five Australian-based journalists by Indonesian forces in East Timor in 1975 was deliberate and probably ordered by senior officers who may have committed war crimes, a coroner concluded Friday.
The finding stokes the long-running controversy surrounding the case by contradicting the Indonesian and Australian governments' official version of events: that the journalists were killed accidentally in crossfire between Indonesian troops and East Timorese defenders.
It also strains Australia-Indonesia diplomatic ties because it names three former senior officers of Indonesia's special military forces as likely ordering the killings, and suggests they should face possible war crimes charges.
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