The battle took place near Aidabasalala, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the West Timor border, and saw the Australians attacking a group of more than sixty armed militia.

The SASR patrol had been detected whilst establishing an observation post over a village and had to fight their way to a landing zone, being attacked a further three times over a one-and-a-half-hour period, killing a number of their opponents before they were successfully extracted by S-70 Black Hawk helicopter.

[1] Over the next three days they moved south-west towards their objective, during which Oddy led his patrol across dried creek beds and through fog shrouded jungles.

Though fortunately their night vision goggles allowed them to see the enemy before they were spotted, and the patrol stepped off the path, melting into the thick forest foliage and remained undetected.

It was really frightening to be that close to the enemy and not know if we were about to be detected.” [2][3] At 07:00 on the morning of 16 October 1999 the Australian reconnaissance patrol was moving forward when it came into contact with pro-Indonesian militia.

The initial contact occurred as the Australians crossed the dry bed of the Moto Meuculi Creek and prepared to establish an observation post in the area which was believed to have been a major militia infiltration route from West Timor.

Rear scout Keith Fennell observed the militia from a distance of 20 metres (66 ft) noticing that three of the group appeared to have had military training.

Fennell engaged the lead militia scout when he approached within 10m of his position before they made eye contact firing half of his magazine from his M4 Carbine.

[1] After moving through 300 metres (980 ft) of vegetation Oddy ordered the patrol to set up a defensive perimeter so that the signaller could contact Dili again.

[1] The helicopters circled the battlefield in an attempt to support the forces on the ground, yet with the militia attack faltering they began to withdraw, presenting enticing yet forbidden targets for the door gunners.

Three members of the patrol were set down in a small clearing nearby, recovering the previously abandoned packs and a number of weapons from the dead bodies with the other Black Hawk hovering providing fire support.

[7] Meanwhile, a company from 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR) conducted a sweep of the area six hours after the contact, but they failed to locate any militia.

[1] Farrell states that intelligence from Falintil sources claimed that the militia involved had been part of a group that was trying to cross the border to Atambua in West Timor after previously being cut-off.