Still allegedly deadJAKARTA - AN ALLEGED mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings is believed to be one of three suspects shot dead by Indonesian anti-terror police yesterday. The authorities said they were still trying to confirm whether the man was Dulmatin, a leader of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist network and an explosives expert. It could take up to two days to identify the body.
Dulmatin, nicknamed 'Genius', has been wanted by the police since 2002.
The suspect was killed in a shootout when members of the anti-terror Detachment 88 (Densus 88) raided a shophouse in Pamulang district in Tangerang around noon. About an hour later, the other two suspects, said to be his bodyguards, were shot dead near the shophouse, which houses an Internet cafe.
The trio had been the target of a series of raids across the country following the discovery of a terrorist training camp in Aceh last month. Police operations conducted in Aceh and Java have so far nabbed 21 people suspected of being members of an Aceh-based terror group with links to JI.