Jakarta – An elite Indonesian army unit has sacked two top officers as well as 20 soldiers from the battalion following a deadly street battle with police in an East Java town. Lieutenant-General Ryamizard Ryacudu, chief of the Kostrad strategic reserve, ordered the sackings.

The two top officers fired were Major Komistin Hadirin and Major Nurcholid, the chief and deputy chief of Kostrad's airborne battalion in Madiun, where the clashes broke out. The East Java military spokesman Lt-Col Djoko Agus said the other 20 infantry soldiers were in the custody of the Madiun military police. "They are waiting for legal processing for the offence. We are investigating the case very seriously," he added.

Members of the battalion attacked several police stations in Madiun following a brawl at a petrol station around midnight last Saturday. Three students died and 20 people were injured. The parents of the dead students, Hendrik, 17, and M. Adi Nugroho, 18, said they would file suits against the police and the army for the deaths of their children.

Fierce fighting broke out after a heated argument over queue-cutting at a petrol station near the town square on Saturday night. The arguments escalated when a large number of the infantry battalion members arrived at the scene and helped the military policemen. A police officer fired a warning shot, which did not stop the fighting. A military policemen then tried to grab his gun and was shot in the leg instead.

The brawl later led to an attack by about 300 members of the infantry battalion on Madiun police station and three other sub-stations in the town. One traffic police post in the precinct was destroyed. Other buildings were also attacked and damaged, including the police hospital. Many police officers were seriously injured in the attack.

Lt-Gen Ryacudu said: "If something like this occurs again, I will never pardon anyone who is involved. I will even discharge one battalion if necessary if this kind of incident ever takes place again."