Tom Allard and Jill Jolliffe – The bodies of two militia fighters, one of them alleged to have been summarily executed by the Australian SAS in East Timor, have been exhumed by United Nations order as part of investigations into the incident.

The alleged war crime centres on claims someone using a handgun of a senior SAS officer shot one of the militia members in the head.

Australian Defence Force investigators said 13 of the 19 allegations stemming from an ambush of SAS troops by militia in 1999 had proved groundless.

During the incident, two Australian troops were injured in gunfire and about 100 militia members were arrested. There are also allegations of torture and physical abuse of prisoners, and that one of the dead bodies was kicked.

The Department of Defence refused to disclose the precise allegations yesterday, although a spokesman said they were "very serious". Nor would the department confirm that an SAS officer had resigned during the course of the investigations.

The head of the investigation, Colonel Terry McCullagh, said more than 200 people had been interviewed over the incident, which occurred near the border with West Timor and was the first military conflict of the Timor campaign.

"We will continue to investigate this until we understand exactly what happened," Colonel McCullagh told ABC Radio.The UN, along with the ADF and the Australian Federal Police, are investigating the allegations.