At about 5pm on 8 September 1999, thousands of refugees sheltering at the police station in Maliana were attacked from four sides at once by the local Besi Merah Putih militias, all wearing camouflage paint or balaclavas. Behind the militias were soldiers from the territorial batallion, and policemen (including Brimob). A witness told an Australian journalist she saw Bobonaro district military commander LtCol Burhannudin Siagian, his local intelligence chief Lt Sutrisno, and local police chief LtCol Budi Susilo circulating among the crowd as militias went through the camp with death lists. These three men then ordered the bodies loaded onto trucks and disposed of. Witnesses counted 47 bodies hacked to death by machetes on that day. More died later as militias tracked down those who escaped, but most bodies have not been recovered.