What witnesses say they saw and heard in the aftermath of a firefight between Australian special forces and militia in East Timor has been unearthed after more than 20 years.
The accounts include disturbing allegations about the actions of an Australian SAS soldier who Four Corners has called "Operator K".
They also raise questions about why the case against Operator K collapsed.
What was the SAS doing in East Timor?
Violence intensified in 1999 after the people of East Timor, now officially known as Timor-Leste, overwhelmingly voted for independence from Indonesia.
Pro-Indonesia militia, determined to stop the split, killed more than 1,000 people and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Australia led a multinational peacekeeping force made up of troops from countries including New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Thailand.
What happened in this firefight?
Australian soldiers were ambushed by pro-Indonesia militia near the town of Suai on October 6, 1999.
Two Australian SAS soldiers were wounded, and two militiamen were killed.
In witness statements obtained by Four Corners, New Zealand soldiers say Operator K "lost it" after the ambush and was seen kicking and punching the bodies.
"I heard [Operator K] scream, 'How dare you shoot my boys,' or words to that effect," one Kiwi SAS soldier, code-named "Soldier U" by investigators, said
"He was also kicking and punching the bodies as he said this. At this time I was about 10-15 [metres] away from the LAV [the Australian vehicle which the bodies were being carried on] and I thought to myself, 'F***, he's lost it.'"
One Kiwi alleged he had been told by an Australian colleague that one of the militiamen was still alive and got up to try to flee when Operator K "'arced' him up", or shot him.
New Zealand SAS officer "Soldier X" told investigators Operator K was a "loose cannon and often unprofessional" and that he had suggested the Australians take him off the front line.
Who interviewed these witnesses?
The Royal Australian Corps of Military Police (RACMP) started an inquiry into 19 allegations of wrongdoing in East Timor, including what happened after the ambush.
The statements were among 330 collected from witnesses in four countries.
They also interviewed soldiers who searched the bodies after they'd been flown to Dili.
One was Michael Clarey, who was an intelligence officer attached to the Australian SAS.
"To say that they had died violently is an understatement," he told Four Corners.
"So, one man was missing a greater portion of the top of his head … and we all remarked at the same time that that was done really close.
"We knew that, not being experts, but we knew it because the entry wound was burnt. And you know, when you fire a weapon, there's a muzzle blast. Stuff comes out of the end of the barrel and it burns.
"If it's too close, it will burn the skin. And in this particular fellow's case, he had one of those injuries."
What other evidence was there?
Investigators also exhumed the bodies of the militiamen three years after they were killed to conduct post-mortems.
The pathologist found both men had gunshot wounds to the chest, and head injuries.
Defence also asked the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to review the ongoing military police inquiry.
That AFP operation heard that the two militiamen may have been shot "at short range with a 9mm pistol after they had been wounded".
It found the material collected by the military police "provides some evidence toward substantiating an allegation of murder" but that there wasn't enough evidence yet for a charge.
After two and a half years, without eye-witnesses or conclusive forensic evidence, investigators were unable to recommend a murder charge.
Instead, Operator K was charged with kicking corpses.
What happened to Operator K?
Australian military prosecutors wanted two Kiwi SAS soldiers to testify against Operator K.
But there were concerns for their safety that went all the way up the chain of command to the Chief of the New Zealand Army.
When the Australian Defence Force magistrate didn't allow them to give evidence with their identities protected, the case fell apart.
Operator K complained about how he'd been treated and Australia's Chief of Defence ordered an inquiry into the investigation of the allegations.
When it criticised the duration and quality of the original investigation, the ADF Chief of Army publicly apologised to Operator K.
Why does this matter now?
The witness statements and allegations raised by the Kiwi SAS have been hidden for more than 20 years.
They show just how serious the concerns among witnesses about what happened that day were.
They also raise questions about how the case against Operator K collapsed so spectacularly.
And for some, the failure to prosecute the case was the first link in a chain leading to alleged SAS war crimes in Afghanistan.
"If things had have been different, and that protection had have been given to the New Zealanders, I don't think we would have had some of the issues that we had in Afghanistan," said Karl Fehlauer, who was a military police sergeant involved in the investigation.
"I think it gave the wrong message to some people in various organisations that they could do what they want and get away with it."
