Indonesia: Noordin is alive

Bad news: the dead man was a florist and an admirer/follower of Noordin:

DNA tests carried out by Indonesian police have confirmed that the body of a man killed in a weekend raid is not that of Noordin Mohammad Top, the suspected mastermind of last month’s Jakarta hotel bombings.

According to officials the dead man has instead been identified as a follower of Noordin, known only as Ibrohim, who had worked as a florist at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels that were attacked by suicide bombers on July 17.

via Al Jazeera English – Asia-Pacific – Jakarta bomb suspect still alive.

Noordin knows very well how to elude the police and has dedicated time to improve his net of supporters. They even think he is like a “pop star”, something which explain that some other guy offers himself to die in his place (and of course, the possible brainwashing as in the sects). His legend (and as a result, his admirers) and the possibility of making everyone who took part in Bali bombers’ trial of getting killed have grown these days: no prudent Govt. would have said anything about him being killed, if there was a possibility (even if it was remote) of him escaping the siege. Specially because Noording has escaped repeatedly in the past from the police. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the first man on Noordin’s “kill list” as we have seen now.

More information:

• Bali bombing mastermind escaped deadly police siege
  guardian.co.uk
  The terrorist leader Noordin Mohammad Top, now believed to have survived a bloody police raid in Java. Photograph: Ho/REUTERS A man killed in a 17-hour siege on Saturday was not Indonesia’s most wanted militant, Noordin Mohammed Top, police said today. …
• Blow for Indonesia as militant Top eludes police Reuters
• Hunt for Most Wanted Indonesian Terrorist Resumes New York Times
• Noordin Still at Large After Indonesian Police Kill Accomplice Bloomberg
• Aljazeera.net – The Associated Press – CNN International
  all 2,540 news articles »

technorati tags: Noordin_Mohammed_Top, Noordin_Mat_Top, Indonesia, Jakarta, terrorism, Susilo_Bambang_Yudhoyono, Jemaah_Islamiya, Tanzim_Qaidat_al-Jihad