East Timor's leader has called on Indonesia to take responsibility for the 1975 killing of five foreign reporters.

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta says Indonesia must assume with courage and responsibility what happened," claiming the reporters had been "captured alive and killed."

The Indonesian government has rejected results from an Australian inquiry that found Indonesian soldiers had deliberately killed five British, Australian and New Zealand reporters to prevent them exposing the invasion of East Timor more than three decades ago.

Jakarta maintains the five died in crossfire in a skirmish ahead of Indonesia's invasion, but an Australian inquest's coroner says evidence exists war crimes may have been committed.