Battle of Aidabasalala 1999
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 16 October 1999 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1999 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | East Timor | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | 1999 East Timorese crisis | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Australia, Pro-Indonesia militia | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | -8.8728, 125.1800 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Aidabasalala (16 October 1999) was a small but hard-fought action during the 1999 East Timorese crisis between pro-Indonesian militia and a six-man Australian covert reconnaissance patrol from the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) operating as part of the United Nations-mandated International Force for East Timor (INTERFET). The battle took place near Aidabasalala, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the West Timor border, and saw the Australians attacking a group of more than sixty armed militia. The SASR patrol had been detected whilst establishing an observation post over a village and had to fight their way to a landing zone, being attacked a further three times over a one-and-a-half-hour period, killing a number of their opponents before they were safely evacuated by S-70 Black Hawk helicopter.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Aidabasalala (revision 1370431160), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Penfui 1749 · 220 km
- Battle of Timor 1942 · 239 km
Browse more: battles in East Timor · Asia · Post-1945 battles