Nooradin Top dead

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http://www.smh.com.au/world/terror-leader-killed-in-raids-20090808-edbq.html

Top was responsible for the 2005 Bali bombing, the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004, the Marriott bombing in Jakarta on 2003 and the recent Jakarta bombings.

Terror leader killed in raids

The fugitive terrorist leader Noordin Mohammed Top is believed to be one of two men killed after police laid siege to a suspected terrorist safe house in Central Java.

Heavily armed elite Indonesian police were seen entering a house believed to be a hideout for the alleged terror mastermind, after a 17-hour siege that started yesterday.

Police wearing black and carrying blast-proof shields and assault rifles entered the house in Beji village, Central Java, after apparently blowing in one of the doors.

A few tense minutes followed before police emerged carrying what appeared to be a suitcase-sized box. There was no sign of the occupants of the house, and police made no immediate comment to reporters.

The house was quickly cordoned off with police investigation tape as the siege ended around 12.45 AEST. Police had earlier set off explosions at the house and fired repeated volleys from their assault rifles into the property in the dramatic conclusion to the standoff, which started around 4pm on Friday.

A police spokesman Nanan Soekarna said police had received information that Noordin, south-east Asian's most wanted man, was among two killed at the house, but added this had yet to be confirmed.

"The information we are getting is that it's him," said Soekarna. "[But] the police cannot confirm if Noordin is dead or not. We still can't get into the house."

After a 10-hour siege in which the militants and police exchanged gun fire, a loud explosion was heard at the house as dawn broke.

Minutes later, officers sent remote control robots into the house to search for bombs, a witness in the village said.

Police suspect that one of Noordin's long-time accomplices, Tedy, aka Reno, may also have been in the house.

There had been earlier reports that Noordin had been arrested.

The raid in Central Java was one of two carried out by Indonesian police late yesterday. The other, in the town of Bekasi near Jakarta resulted in two deaths and the uncovering of a large cache of explosives. One of those dead is suspected of playing a role in the bombing of the Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott hotels last month that killed seven innocent bystanders, including three Australians.

In the second raid in Bekasi, the Indonesian police chief said two-would be suicide bombers who were weeks away from launching a car bomb attack. National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said the two men were shot dead as they were about to detonate hand-made bombs during the raid, which uncovered a cache of explosive material and a car rigged as a bomb.

Noordin is belived to be the mastermind behind the recent attacks in Jakarta, and has played a role in terrorist bombings in Indonesia stretching back to the Bali attacks of 2002, in which 88 Australians were killed.
 
This is a bad week to be a terrorist leader. If I was #2 on the depth chart I wouldn't be so keen on a promotion right now.
 
Wow... Great news. We have been tracking that asshole for a long while now. He was a crafty bastard.
Makes my heart warm to hear of his death.
 
Not so fast. Unfortunately the Indos say they can take up to 2 weeks to make an official ID. Hopefully its a positive.
 
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25920591-25837,00.html

Shootout victim led hotel bombings

AN Indonesian florist killed in a central Java shootout at the weekend was the main architect of the July 17 Jakarta hotel bombings, and police claim he was also planning to join a suicide attack on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Police said the 37-year-old, Ibrohim, alias Boim, was recruited into the regional Jemaah Islamiah network in 2000 and then into a terror cell linked to the organisation in 2005 -- the same year he got a job at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels and began planning the operations there.

Police initially believed they had cornered master terrorist Noordin Mohammad Top when they surrounded a farmhouse near the town of Temanggung last Friday, after trailing Top from Jakarta the previous day.

However, national spokesman Nanan Soekarna was forced to admit yesterday that Top, 41, remained on the loose after a 17-hour siege at the farmhouse and that the dead man was Ibrohim, who had "planned, arranged and controlled" last month's bombings.

Nine people died in the attacks, including three Australians, and dozens were injured.

Ibrohim was seen fleeing the Ritz in the chaotic moments after the blasts but had not been heard from since.

General Soekarna said yesterday Ibrohim had been involved in the fugitive Top's network since 2000, when Top was still heavily associated with JI, the organisation that produced the first Bali bombers.

Top has since struck out on his own, with a splinter group apparently having little to do with the previous JI leadership.

Neighbours of the central Jakarta boarding house where Ibrohim lived until recently expressed surprise yesterday at the revelation, with one describing him as "from what I knew, a good person".

Closed-circuit television footage released yesterday revealed Ibrohim's central role in the attacks, including escorting Ritz-Carlton suicide bomber Ikhwan Maulana, also known as Nana, into the hotel's Airlangga restaurant via a staff entrance nine days before the bombings in order to familiarise him with the layout there.

It also showed a small tray-truck delivery vehicle being used the day before the attacks to drop off at the Marriott what are thought to have been the bombs, concealed in flower arrangements being delivered to Cynthia Florist, Ibrohim's employer.

The firm contracted with both hotels to deliver and maintain their floral arrangements.

Dr Yudhoyono, who police claim was to have been the target of a follow-up attack, indicated yesterday he did not regard the 17-hour siege in which Ibrohim was killed as being a waste of time, despite the fact that Top escaped and the apparently unarmed Ibrohim would have been much more valuable if captured alive.

Police have offered no evidence, only assurances, that they learned of a planned presidential assassination from arrests after the July 17 attacks, and there is disquiet in some quarters at the size and scale of the weekend raid, which was carried live on television.

Hundreds of police joined in the assault, but General Soekarna revealed yesterday that the dead florist had only one injury -- which was to his back.

But Home Affairs Secretary Hatta Radjasa warned yesterday: "Don't let it be said that this 17-hour raid was only a waste of time. Don't twist it into something else; we must give our appreciation to the police (for their efforts)."
 
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