http://www.longwarjournal.org/multimedia/JI_raids_Indonesia_080720/index.html
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http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/noordin_mohammed_top.php
PHOTO CAPTION: “Latest police sketch of wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top, who was killed during a raid in central Java in Indonesia. Click image for more pictures from the raid that killed top.”
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“Noordin Mohammed Top dead, major attack averted”
By NICK GRACEAugust 7, 2009 9:07 PM
SNIPPET: “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.
Top was a senior leader in Jemaah Islamiyah and was originally from Malaysia. He was known as a top recruiter, strategist, and fundraiser, and was behind the most deadly terror attacks in Indonesia. He masterminded the October 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people and injured 209; the August 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta; the September 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta; and the October 2005 Bali bombings. He split from Jemaah Islamiyah in late 2005 after disagreement over the use of violence with other leaders and became the emir of Tandzim al-Qaedat Indonesia. While ties between Top’s group and al Qaeda have not yet been confirmed, his group has run Web forums that have collaborated with Jihadi forums known to be associated with al Qaeda. One such forum released an Indonesian-language propaganda video with the well-known al-Ekhlaas Forum in early 2008.”
PHOTO: Body bag.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00599/Bomb385_599350a.jpg
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6788699.ece
August 9, 2009
“Elite squad guns down Bali bomb mastermind”
SNIPPET: “AN ELITE Indonesian police squad has killed a man believed to be the most wanted Islamic militant in southeast Asia, Noordin Mohammad Top, who was linked to bombings in Jakarta and on the island of Bali.
Officers of Detachment 88 stormed a house amid green rice paddies in central Java yesterday morning, using robot cameras to find their target as they blasted from room to room with grenades.
The man made a last stand inside the bathroom as walls shattered around him, screaming out the name, “Noordin Top”, before black-clad marksmen fired volleys of shots into the room, witnesses said.
It was the climax to a 17-hour siege that followed a swoop on militants in the town of Temanggung, 250 miles southeast of Jakarta.
After several exchanges of gunfire, there was a lull overnight. Shortly before 8am yesterday, heavy firing and explosions could be heard. It was almost two hours before the shooting stopped.
At least one body was seen by reporters being dragged from the house and placed in a makeshift coffin. Two more were put into body bags.
There appears to have been no effort to negotiate a surrender with the suspect. Top, who was 40, had vowed to go down fighting and had pledged that his death would be bloodily avenged.
A formal identification of Top’s body has yet to be made. Police said last night they would conduct a DNA test before confirming his identity.
If verified, his death would be a blow to a network of violent extremists that has wreaked havoc with suicide bombings across the world’s most populous Islamic nation.”
