Jatiasih (Indonesia), Aug 8 (DPA) One of Asia’s most-wanted men, Islamic militant Noordin Mohammed Top, was killed after 18 hours of armed standoff with Indonesian anti-terrorism police in Central Java Saturday, local television reported.
Police believe Malaysian-born Noordin was the mastermind behind bomb attacks on two Jakarta luxury hotels last month, which killed nine people including two suicide bombers.
TV One channel, citing police sources at the scene, said Noordin was killed in a raid on a house in a remote village in Temanggung district after a siege that lasted 18 hours.
Police and up to four militants, including the man believed to be Noordin, had been engaged in an exchange of gunfire outside the house in a village in Temanggung district since Friday evening.
Noordin was killed after being holed up in a bathroom with serious injuries, said TV One, which provided an exclusive coverage of the siege.
The televised footage showed officers setting up a police line outside the house and shaking hands with each other.
Television earlier showed police explosive-detection robots equipped with cameras entering the house and several explosions were heard.
Snipers fired on the roof of the house from a hill, TV One said.
A police spokesman, Ketut Yoga Ana, declined to confirm that Noordin had died or say how many militants were killed in the siege.
“Let’s hope so,” Ketut said when asked if Noordin was killed.
Local media said it appeared that the man thought to be Noordin was the only fatality in the raid. Ketut said there were no casualties among the police.
In a separate, dramatic anti-terror raid outside Jakarta Saturday morning, anti-terror police killed two suspected militants, national police chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters.
Police seized a 100-kg bomb and explosive materials intended for car bombs from a house, believed to be an earlier safe house for Noordin, Danuri said.
“It’s for a very special target,” Danuri said.
Noordin, believed to be the leader of a splinter group of the radical Islamic network Jemaah Islamiah, is also accused of masterminding the 2003 suicide bombing on the same Marriott hotel, which killed 12 people, and the 2004 attack on the Australian embassy, in which 11 people were killed.
Police have come close to arresting Noordin several times in the past and have captured or killed some of his closest associates.
