Free Republic

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant was killed in a police shoot-out in Central Java, police said on Thursday, lifting a major security threat ahead of a planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. Malaysian-born Noordin Mohammad Top, who set up a violent splinter group of regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah, was widely considered the mastermind of the bomb attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta in July, as well as other attacks in Bali and in Jakarta which killed scores of Westerners and Indonesians. National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri announced Top's death at a news conference,...

JAKARTA, July 23 (Reuters) - The Indonesian wife of Noordin Top, the region's most-wanted militant because of his role in a string of bomb attacks in Indonesia, did not know his real name and thought he was a teacher, her lawyer said on Thursday. Malaysian-born Top is one of the prime suspects behind last week's near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, two luxury hotels in Jakarta's main business district, which killed nine people and injured 53, including Indonesians and foreigners. Police and security analysts said the attacks bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the militant...

Indonesian police have arrested a man they suspect of harboring a Malaysian militant accused of masterminding the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and other attacks on Western targets in recent years. The suspect, identified only as Fauzan, is being held at National Police Headquarters under anti-terror laws that allow police to detain a suspect for an initial period of seven days, Maj. Gen. Aryanto Budiharjo said Monday. Fauzan was arrested "recently" at an undisclosed location in east Java province, said Budiharjo. Officers suspect he hid Malaysian militant Noordin Mohamed Top earlier this year in a house in east Java, said Budiharjo,...