Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The terrorist shot dead in a raid in Temanggung, Central Java, last Saturday was not Malaysian extremist Noordin Mohammad Top, police said.
The chief of the National Police Headquarters` public relations division, Insp Gen Nanan Soekarna, said here on Wednesday, DNA tests on the body from Temanggung proved it belonged to Ibrohim, who was wanted for his role in the July 17, 2009 bombings at the JW Marriot and Ritz Carlton hotels in the Mega Kuningan area in Jakarta.

Soekarna made the statement to the press at the Soekanto police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, in the company of Police Health and Medical Center chief Brig Gen Edy Saparwoko.

He said the police could not immediately announce the identity of the dead man from Tembanggung because they had to wait for the results of the DNA tests.

"Ibrohim played a dominant role in the bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Mega Kuningan in Jakarta," Soekarna said, adding Ibrohim was a florist at one of the hotels. He had helped to carry bombs into the hotel and hide them in Room 1808 of the JW Marriott Hotel.

The almost simultaneous bomb explosions at the two luxury hotels claimed nine lives including six foreigners.

Meanwhile, Brig Gen Edy Saparwoko said the police had tried to match the DNA of the slain terrorist in Temanggung with samples of the DNA of Noordin M Top`s son in Johor, Malaysia, and of some of his other family members in Cilacap and Klaten, Central Java, but the results were negative.

Saparwoko said the police then compared the dead man`s DNA with those of Ibrohim`s son and daughter, and they matched one hundred percent.

Noordin is one of Asia`s most wanted terror suspects blamed for a series of attacks in Indonesia since 2003, including the twin suicide blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels last month.(*)

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is not disappointed about the fact that anti-terror police failed to get Noordin M Top in their recent raid in Temanggung, a minister said.

Yudhoyono in fact praised the police for being able to catch a number of terrorists, Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said here on Wednesday.

The police`s successful raids, including in Temanggung (Central Java) and Jatiasih (Bekasi, West Java) should be appreciated following the bomb blasts which hit JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July 17, Rajasa said after accompanying the head of state in receiving four new foreign ambassadors at the Merdeka Palace.

In hunting terrorists, the police not only targeted fugitive Malaysian-born extremist Noordin M Top but also other suspects such as Ibrohim, he said.

The police had made significant achievements by arresting and killing a number of terror network members, he said.

A new regulation was needed to limit the movements of terrorists who were still at large in the country, he said.

"It`s time to issue a new law that will make us more capable of fighting terrorism in order to protect the people and the country," he said.

Earlier, Inspector General Nanan Soekarno, a spokesman of the National Police, announced that the terrorist who was killed in a police raid in Temanggung last Saturday (Aug. 8) was Ibrohim, not Noordin M Top.

Ibrohim played an important role in the bombing of the JW Marriot and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July 17, 2009, where nine people were killed and and 53 others, including foreigners, were injured.

The Indonesian government was determined to intensify efforts to find Noordin M Top and other terrorists following the bombings of two hotels in the Mega Kuningan area in Jakarta last July 17, 2009.(*)

Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - The threat of terrorism still exists despite the death of Malaysian-born terrorist M Noordin M Top in a police raid in Temanggung, Central Java, on Saturday, according to an official.

"His presence in Indonesia for such a long time with a series of terrorist actions carried out up to July 2009, shows that Noordin has continued to build up his power base in the form of cells. It would therefore not be correct to assume that with his death, his entire terror network has been paralyzed," Ansyaad Mbai, head of the anti-terror desk at the coordinating ministry for political, legal and security affairs, said here on Saturday.

Moreover, many terrorist suspects related to Noordin M Top and Dr Azahari were still at large, he said.

"The skills of the Noordin M Top group in making bombs have continued to be developed as can be seen from their modus operandi ... these skills, of course, have also been acquired by members of the cells which have been built up for a long time at least over the past four years," he said.

Therefore, although Noordin M Top was reportedly dead, all parties must continue to be on alert to the threat of terrorism in any form.

Anti-terror police at 9.30 am local time on Saturday raided a house believed to be a terrorist hideout at Beji village in the Kedu region of Temanggung District, Central Java.
The raid was carried out after at least five explosions were heard happening in the house. Fugitive Malaysian-born terrorist Noordin M Top was believed to have been killed in the raid.

Police officers entered the house and fired profusely inside the house while other policemen surrounded the house and opened its windows by force.

Before breaking into the house, the police fired at the house from a nearby hill.
The Indonesian government has intensified efforts to find Noordin M Top following the bombings of two hotels at Mega Kuningan, in Jakarta last July 17, 2009, which filled nine people and injured 53 others.

Based on the findings and modus operandi of the bomb blasts, Noordin M Top and his network were suspected to have been behind the bombings. Azahari was killed in a police raid in East Java in November 2005. (*)