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INDONESIAN POLICE STORM SUSPECTED MILITANT HIDEOUT

DATE : 08-Aug-09

COUNTRY : Indonesia

NEWS IN BRIEF

Indonesian police stormed a house on Saturday where the regional militant leader suspected in last month's attacks on hotel
the capital was believed hiding out with several followers, witnesses and police said.

The raid broke a 16-hour siege of the house in central Java province that had officers trading automatic weapons fire with the militants. At least five loud explosions have rocked the building since dawn.

Police spokesman Nanan Sukarna said officers believed alleged Malaysian militant leader Noordin Mohammad Top and two or three of his followers were inside, but could not immediately confirm their fate.

Minutes after the raid, witnesses said officers outside the house took off their helmets and were shaking hands with each other, suggesting all those inside had either been killed or captured. The firing ceased.

A police officer at the scene said a body was found in the bathroom of the house.

Noordin is suspected in last month's attacks on the J W Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the capital, Jakarta, which killed nine people and broke a four-year gap in terror strikes in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

He is also believed to have played a major role in four other bombings in Indonesia since 2002, including nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali that year that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.

Killing or capturing him would be a major victory in Indonesia's fight against militants and could significantly weaken the chances of more attacks, given the key planning, financial and motivational role he is believed to have played in terror networks.
Earlier Saturday, officers raided a second house close to the capital Jakarta where they shot and killed two suspected militants and seized bombs and a car rigged to carry them, said police chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri.

Danuri said one of those arrested had reserved a room in one of the hotels that was used by the terrorists before they attacked.

The house was about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the residence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. A website, quoting an unnamed police source, said officers believed Yudhoyono's house could have been planning an attack there.

Officers circled the house in central Java province late on Friday afternoon after making arrests in a nearby town. At one point, they sent remote-controlled robots into the isolated building to search for bombs.

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