Indonesia: Noordin Mohammed Top, believed killed*

Suspected terrorist mastermind Noordin Mohamed Top was believed to have been killed in a Central Java police raid today.

Indonesian police this afternoon were evacuating bodies from the house they had stormed, believing that the regional militant leader was hiding on the premises with several followers.

Indonesian news stations carried television footage of the raid, and quoted a police source as being “80 per cent certain” that Top had been in the house.

Bill Roggio reports he committed suicide after an standoff with the police:

Noordin Mohammed Top, Asia’s most wanted terrorist, committed suicide after a 12-hour standoff with Indonesian police in a remote farm house in Central Java.

Police made visual confirmation of Top through cameras attached to remote control robots that were deployed into the house and watched as he fled into a bathroom and, surrounded by a woman and three children, blew himself up, Metro TV reported. The explosion occurred at 8 am Saturday local-time (9 pm EDT Friday) and was carried on live television.

The woman is believed to be the children’s granmother. Indonesian police has not confirmed yet Noordin’s death. But that hasn’t been the only operation against terrorists in Indonesia:

In a separate operation on Friday evening, Densus 88 raided a safe house near Jakarta in Bekasi and disrupted planned major attacks on Istana Merdeka, the presidential palace, and the president’s official residence in Cikeas, a suburb of Bogor, which is two hours south of the capital. The raid followed the capture of a Daihatsu Xenia minivan that carried a 500 Kg bomb.

Two suspected terrorists, Air Setyawan (28) and Eko Peyang (21), attempted to flee the safehouse and were shot by police. Both men died after being taken to the hospital. Both men have been associated with recent terrorist attacks and activities. Setyawan was involved in the 2004 attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta while Peyang had become Top’s main bombmaker, According to Detik News.
Read it all.

More photos from the raid, here.

*Indonesian national police chief has said that Noordin was preparing a terrorist attack on the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, recently elected.

technorati tags: Tanzim_Qaidat_al-Jihad, Jemaah_Islamiyah, Islamism, terrorism, Indonesia, Noordin_Mohammed_Top, Air_Setyawan, Eko_Peyang