Top Leaders in Jemaah Islamiyah Asia Killed in Raid

Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist killed in Java raid

By Bill RoggioSeptember 17, 2009 8:03 AM


Southeast Asia’s most wanted al Qaeda-linked terrorist has been killed during an overnight raid by counterterrorism police in Solo in Central Java, Indonesia. Police have confirmed that the elusive Noordin Mohammed Top has been killed along with four other terrorists during the assault on a safe house in Java.

Photo provided to Longwar Journal Nick Grace.

Police had stepped up efforts to kill or capture Top after the July 2009 bombings at two posh hotels in Java. He was previously thought to have been killed during an assault on a safe house in Central Java in early August.

Wanted posters for Syaifudin Zuhri, Mohamad Syahrir, Bagus Budi Pranoto and Ario Sudarso. Photo provided by Nick Grace.

Within the past 24 hours, Indonesia's elite counterterrorism police unit Detachment 88 (Densus 88) shot and killed Top along with three other associates.

• During the raid, police acquired two laptops and documents, which they said confirm that all four terrorists who were killed during the raid comprised the leadership of al Qaeda in Southeast Asia.
• Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri suggested in a press conference today that the documents picked up in Solo show that they wiped out most of al Qaeda in Southeast Asia's senior leadership in this raid.
  

Wanted terrorists Bagus Budi Pranoto, Ario Sudarso, and Hadi Susilo were killed with Top, Metro TV reported.

Pranoto and Sudarso are believed to have been Top's right-hand men. Saifuddin Zuhri and Muhammad Sahrir, two other top terrorists, are being hunted by police.

The Indonesian press is showing photos of Top's body and the commentary is focusing on the fact that his eyes were closed and his mouth was open at the moment of death - unlike Ibrohim, the florist-terrorist involve int he July bombings in Jakarta who was killed in the police raid in Temanggung in August.

The insinuation is that Noordin was such a coward that not only did he not blow himself up, despite having active bombs available at the safe house - but that he winced and closed his eyes when he was killed by Detachment 88 oficers.

Top, a Malaysian national, was a senior leader in Jemaah Islamiyah.

• He was known as a highly effective 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.
• Most recently, Top planned and supervised the near-simultaneous suicide attacks at the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta.
  

In late 2005, Top formed a splinter group from Jemaah Islamiyah after several disagreements over the use of violence arose with other leaders.

He 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.

Nick Grace contributed to this report.Read more:

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