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Top Indonesian Terror Suspect Reported Killed in Raid


Police in Indonesia say they believe they killed the country's most-wanted terror suspect in a raid Saturday, and also broke up a bomb plot targeting the country's president.

The nation's top police official, however, says authorities will await the outcome of DNA tests before they confirm the death of Noordin Mohammed Top, who was blamed for a series of notorious bomb attacks.

Noordin, believed to have ordered last month's deadly bomb attack on luxury hotels in Jakarta, was the target when police raided a house in central Java used as a hideout by Islamic militants. Unofficial reports say Noordin's body was flown to the capital for an autopsy.

Officials say a second raid Saturday broke up a plot to assassinate President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Two men were killed in that incident (in Bekasi) outside Jakarta, as they tried to throw pipe bombs at police.

President Yudhoyono sent a message of congratulations to police on what he said was "a successful operation."

Malaysian-born Noordin has narrowly escaped arrest several times in the past, but an expert on terrorism in Asia, Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group, said Saturday it appears that he has finally been neutralized.

Jones said she received several confirmations from police that Noordin was killed Saturday.

National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said security forces seized a bomb and a car being prepared for an attack on one of President Yudhoyono's homes during the second raid carried out Saturday. He described those involved as members of a "cell" led by Noordin.

The same terrorist organization was implicated in the July 17 attacks on the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, which killed nine people and wounded more than 50.

The organization Noordin led is linked to the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya, which has been blamed for a series of deadly attacks - in particular, major bomb attacks on Bali in 2002 and 2005.

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