By Louise Williams in Jakarta and James Woodford in Canberra – A senior minister in the Habibie Government has flatly denied new allegations that he supervised the killing of five Australian-based journalists in East Timor, but President B.J. Habibie has promised to re-examine the deaths during the 1975 Indonesian invasion.

The Minister of Information, Lieutenant-General Muhammad Yunus Yosfiah, said yesterday: "I am not involved in that case, I deny the allegation, I never got any information about the journalists, I never met the journalists."

ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program aired an interview last night with a witness to the killings, who said the journalists were shot and stabbed at Balibo under the direct command of the then Captain Yunus Yosfiah, of the elite Red Beret force.

On Saturday, the Herald reported the evidence of two witnesses interviewed in East Timor who added their backing to claims that the five journalists did not die as the result of "cross-fire in the heat of battle", as an Australian Government report claimed.

The new evidence adds to the weight of other witnesses who have previously come forward in Australia and Portugal saying the leaders of the attacking force knew of the presence of the journalists in Balibo and planned to eliminate them. It also casts further doubt about the conclusions of the 1996 Sherman Report, which found that it was likely the Balibo five were killed in the heat of battle.

"People can say anything they want, I wasn't involved, that's it," General Yunus said in Jakarta yesterday, clearly annoyed by journalists' questions.

Foreign Correspondent reporter Jonathon Holmes said: "The eyewitness says that four of the journalists were shot. One was knifed in the back trying to surrender. "After their deaths the five newsmen's bodies were stripped of their civilian clothes and dressed in military uniforms left behind by Fretilin [pro-independence] defenders. The bodies were posed with machine-guns and photographed by, among others, the officer in command, Captain Yunus Yosfiah. The bodies were then burnt in the same house."

The journalists who died at Balibo on October 16, 1975, were Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart, of Seven News in Melbourne, and Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters, both of National Nine News.

Earlier yesterday the British Embassy in Jakarta confirmed that Dr Habibie had promised the British Government it would re-examine the case, in response to a recent request from the Foreign Office. Peters and Rennie were British citizens.

General Yunus maintained there was "no need" to reopen the investigation, and denied the new allegations could damage his career as part of the reformist Habibie Government. He has been actively distancing himself from his earlier role in hardline military operations, and as information minister has presided over the opening up of the media.

In Canberra, the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, refused to comment on the latest allegations, but on reports that Dr Habibie would reopen the Balibo investigation, said he would welcome such a move.