Jakarta, September 17: Indonesian Police chief General Bambang Danuri Hendarso said Thursday that the most wanted Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top was killed in a raid in Central Java.
The police chief told reporters at the State Palace before reporting to President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono about the raid on a house believed as a hideout of terrorist suspects linked with the two suicide bombings in Jakarta on July 17. The house was located in Kampung Sari village of Solo regency in Central Java.
When asked whether one of the four persons killed in the raid was Top, Danuri said “yes, yes”.
A police hearse prepares to transport the bodies of suspected Islamic militants, killed in a hideout on the outskirts of Solo city in Central Java. Loud explosions and gunfire were heard as police raided the house at around 7:00 am (0000 GMT) after a nine-hour siege on the outskirts of Solo city, a stronghold in Central Java of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) radical network.
Indonesian anti-terror Detachment 88 have killed 4 terrorist suspects and captured alive three others in the overnight siege, National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna said Thursday.
Top had proclaimed himself as Al Qaeda leader in East Asia of Jemaah Islamiah, which is believed to have links with the recent suicide bombings in two super-tight security luxurious hotel in Jakarta, killing 9 people and wounding 55 others.
He has been the police’s most wanted man as he has been blamed for playing key roles in a series of major deadly explosions in Indonesia, including the church explosions in 2000, Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005, JW Marriot Hotel blasts in 2003 and Australian embassy bombings in 2004, killing more than 260 people.
Top had conducted his acts along with fellow Malaysian bomb expert Azhari Husein. They targeted Westerners and Western facilities in the country.
Top had many times escaped from police hunt.
–Agencies