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| Southeast Asia |
| Noordin Mohammed Top escapes pre-dawn raid |
| 2005-10-08 |
| Surakarta Police in Central Java have detained a Malaysian citizen suspected of having links with three suicide bombers who killed at least 19 people in Bali last weekend. Police refused to identify the suspect, who was arrested on Thursday in Purworejo regency, Central Java. A source said the 35-year-old man came to Indonesia with two associates to preach Islam. "He refused to give his name or provide the (complete) identities of his two associates. All he would say was that one of them was named Edi and was in Pekanbaru, Riau," the source said. Surakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Abdul Madjid said his officers were questioning the man. Separately, Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Chaerul Rasjid said investigators had identified two other people allegedly connected to the Bali bombings. He declined to identify the two but did say police would intensify security checks across Surakarta and neighboring areas. In Denpasar, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko said a resident of Surakarta reported that another man had recognized the suicide bombers. "The informant told the Solo (Surakarta) police that there was a person who recognized the faces of the suicide bombers. The police are looking into the information," he said. Meanwhile, Surakarta Police chief Madjid said a man thought to be Noordin Muhammad Top, the terror suspect alleged to be behind a series of bombings in the country, managed to elude a predawn raid on Friday by the Surakarta Police. The raid targeted Wates Wetan village in Purwantoro district, Wonogiri regency, several kilometers south of Surakarta, where Noordin was thought to be hiding out in a rented house. Neighbors said a man who identified himself as Agus Purnomo rented the house along with his wife. "He left three days ago after staying here for just a week," one resident said. Madjid said the man in question had been in Bali five days before the Oct. 1 bombings, and later returned to Purwantoro. The United States is offering the reward for help in the capture of a member of regional terror group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), identified as Dulmatin. It has also posted a $1 million reward for the arrest of a second JI member identified as Umar Patek. "Dulmatin, an electronics specialist with training in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, is a senior figure in the Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist organization," the State Department was quoted by AFP as saying. "Patek is believed to have served as the assistant for the field coordinator of the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia," it said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |