Indonesian police stormed an Islamic militant hideout early yesterday in a raid that killed fugitive terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top and three other militants, police said.
Noordin? body was among four recovered after the early morning raid on a village house in central Java, national police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters, bringing to an end an exhaustive six-year manhunt.
?rom national police doctors?examinations, antemortem [investigations] and fingerprints sent by Malaysian police, thank God on this holy month of Ramadan ... it? Noordin M. Top,?Danuri said to applause.
Loud explosions and gunfire were heard as police raided the rented house at sunrise after a nine-hour siege on the outskirts of Solo city, a stronghold of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) radical network. The raid left the simple house in the lush, densely populated region a burnt-out shell.
Danuri said police from an elite unit known as Special Detachment 88 launched the raid after interrogating two Noordin acolytes arrested nearby on Wednesday afternoon.
?espite repeated warnings to surrender there was a firefight. A motorcycle was hit, caught fire and they took refuge by huddling in the bathroom,?Danuri said.
?ut our men breached the wall as morning prayers came, at around 5[am] or 6am we carried out a quick operation in three hours and we managed to disable them,?he said.
Danuri said those killed along with Noordin were ?xpert bombmaker?Bagus Budi Pranoto, alias Urwah, close Noordin associate Ario Sudarso, alias Aji, and the renter of the house, Susilo.
He said two men were also arrested and Susilo? wife, who was wounded in the raid, was also in custody.
Police found 200kg of explosive powder already ?repared?by the militants as well as loaded M-16 assault rifles, laptops and surveillance equipment inside the house, he said.
Noordin, a 41-year-old Malaysian who was Southeast Asia? most-wanted man, led a radical splinter faction of the JI network blamed for a string of deadly attacks.
The offshoot, labeled al-舢aeda in the Malay Archipelago, is 貞uspected of being behind the July 17 suicide attacks on Jakarta? JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, which killed seven people including six foreigners.
Noordin allegedly also masterminded a 2003 attack on the Marriott that killed 12 people, as well as the Australian embassy bombing and 2005 attacks on Bali.
?t? a major blow for terrorism in Indonesia generally. I think Noordin was the person most single-mindedly devoted to pursuing the al-Qaeda line in Indonesia,?International Crisis Group analyst Sidney Jones said.
? don? think we can conclude that the problem is over and done with because there are a number of fugitives who are still at large, and some of whom could fill Noordin? shoes,?she said.
?nquestionably, Noodin? network will be severely weakened but it may not disappear,?she said.
Police believe they narrowly missed Noordin in a dramatic televised raid in August on a safe house in Temanggung, also central Java.
Noordin was initially reported dead at the end of the 17-hour siege, but the body later turned out to be that of a florist working in the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel complex who helped plot the attacks from the inside.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS