UK’s propaganda leaflets inspired 1960s massacre of Indonesian communists

An anti-communist mob attacks the Res Publica University in Jakarta, Indonesia, 12 October 1965. The university was perceived to have communist ties. Photograph: Bettmann

Shocking new details have emerged of Britain’s role in one of the most brutal massacres of the postwar 20th century.

Last year the Observer revealed how British officials secretly deployed black propaganda in the 1960s to incite prominent Indonesians to “cut out” the “communist cancer”.