Police storm suspected militant hide-out in Indonesia

(NECN/APTV) – Police officers stormed a suspected militant hide-out in Indonesia on Saturday to end a 16-hour siege that reportedly killed Southeast Asia’s most wanted militant suspect. Local TV stations reported militant chief Noordin Mohammad Top was killed in the bathroom of the house in a rice-growing village in central Java province following a lengthy bomb and gun battle. Those reports were not confirmed by police and DNA tests would likely have to be performed to ensure the identification. The raid broke a 16-hour siege of the house in Temanggung that had officers trading automatic weapons fire with the militants. At least five loud explosions had rocked the building since dawn. Police said they believed that Noordin and two or three of his followers were inside at the time, but could not immediately confirm their fate. Minutes after the raid, witnesses said officers outside the house took off their helmets and were shaking hands with each other, suggesting all those inside had either been killed or captured. The firing ceased and an ambulance arrived at the scene. A police officer at the scene said a body was found in the bathroom of the house. Later an orange body bag was seen being carried out of the house. Noordin is a Malaysian citizen who is suspected in last month’s attacks on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the capital, Jakarta, which killed nine people and broke a four-year gap in militant strikes in Indonesia, the world ‘s most populous Muslim nation. He is also believed to have played a major role in four other bombings in Indonesia since 2002, including nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali that year that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. Killing or capturing him would be a major victory in Indonesia’s fight against militants and could significantly weaken the chances of more attacks, given the key planning, financial and motivational role he is believed to have played in militant networks. Earlier on Saturday, officers raided a second house close to the capital, Jakarta, where they shot and killed two suspected militants and seized bombs and a car rigged to carry them, police said. They added that one of those arrested had reserved a room in one of the hotels that was used by the terrorists before they attacked. The house was about three miles (five kilometres) from the residence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.