Armed forces commander in chief General Wiranto has confirmed that the six students who were killed during protests at Trisakti University, Grogol, Jakarta, had been hit by live bullets aimed from above.

"The use of live bullets was an act of indiscipline and a violation of the rules of engagement," he told a parliamentary commission Friday. He said that the investigation conducted by the armed forces had now established the location of the security forces at the time of the incident. "We hope to be able to disclose very soon who it was who was directly responsible for the shooting," he said.

He said that although the principle of collective responsibility is recognised in the armed forces, in the final analysis, the ABRI commander in chief/Defence Minister (ie, he himself) must take responsibility for the affair.

Major-general Syamsu, commander of the Military Police, who is supervising the investigations, said that the commanders in the field at the time have all been questioned and it has now been established that the troops under their command had only been equipped with rubber bullets, but the fact is that the casualties were caused by live bullets. The investigation is therefore continuing to discover what happened.

He said that the Jakarta military commander of Jakarta as commander of Koops Jaya (operational command for Jakarta) and his deputy, the Jakarta chief of police, had not issued orders for the security forces to open fire during the Trisakti protests. "The two commanders were very concerned to ensure that there would be no shooting with live ammuniation," he said.

Delayed reaction Asked why there was such a delay before the security forces arrived at the time of the riots in Jakarta on Wednesday and Thursday, Wiranto said that this was indeed true.

He said his forces were not capable of coping with mass riots which occurred simaltaneously in a large number of places and admitted tha troops were not present in many places. The size of the area is disproportionate to the number of troops available, he said. Under these circumstances, the decision had been taken to handle the situation by a show of force, bringing out tactical vehicles and combat vehicles.

When asked whether the riots had been instigated, he said: "We have not yet been able to investigate whether certain elements may have organised the riots which spread so rapidly." He said that this was now under investigation.

He said that the police had arrested hundreds of people during the riots and were now having problems finding places to put them and feeding them all. Some people had deliberately got themselves arrested because they would be fed if they were in police custody.