Hotel bombing suspect goes on trial

Noordin Mohammad Top would have been pleased to have died a martyr in a hail of gunfire but his Jemaah Islamiah terrorism network was now seriously degraded, according to his driver. Amir Abdillah made the remarks to reporters yesterday as he stood trial for his role in protecting Noordin and securing explosives used in the Jakarta hotel bombings last year that killed nine people, including three Australians.

He has also been charged for taking part in a plot to assassinate the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in a car bomb attack which was to have taken place a month after the hotel bombings. Abdillah scoured Java for safe houses for Noordin and ran errands for him, including buying materials for explosives. Asked about Noordin's demise after seven years of eluding a massive manhunt, Abdillah said: ''That's what he wanted. He wanted to be a martyr.''

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Top News: Indonesians eliminate terrorist threat

The Indonesian National Police have announced that a DNA test has positively identified a man killed Sept. 17 as Noordin Mohammad Top. Top was killed in a raid on a safe-house in the outskirts of Solo, Central Java, that resulted in a prolonged firefight between Indonesian authorities and militants. Police said four militants were killed in the incident and three more were taken into custody. (Two of them were arrested before the raid.) Authorities also recovered a large quantity of explosives during the raid that they believe the militant group was preparing to use in an attack on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Indonesian National Police had reported Sept. 17 that the dead man’s fingerprints matched Top’s. But given several inaccurate reports of Top’s demise in the past, combined with reports that the body believed to be Top’s was headless — perhaps due to the explosion of a suicide belt — most observers were waiting for DNA confirmation before removing Top’s name from the pinnacle of the organizational chart of Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad.

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Indonesian terror network 'larger than thought'

Analysts at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said the group led by Malaysian Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top was finding it "disturbingly easy" to recruit members to carry out fresh attacks.

"More than a month after the 17 July 2009 hotel bombings in Jakarta, Noordin Mohammed Top remains at large, but his network is proving to be larger and more sophisticated than previously thought," the ICG said in a report.

"Noordin may still be the commander, but he has some exceedingly well-connected lieutenants who made their debut in the hotel bombings."

The twin suicide blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed nine people including two bombers and six foreigners. They marked the bloody end of a four-year hiatus in such attacks in the mainly Muslim country.

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Terrorist bombs claim 9 lives in Jakarta: Update 6

Two days after announcing that they had killed their most wanted terrorist, Noordin Top, Indonesian police now believe he fled the scene before a raid was carried out. The police shooting in central Java was initially hailed as a triumph. The operation came less than a month after deadly Jakarta hotel bombings that Noordin was believed to have ordered. He has evaded the authorities while carrying out a series of high profile attacks since at least 2003.

But police have now conceded doubts about the identity of the dead men appear credible. One policeman said: "It's not him. We know from his facial structure as well as his fingerprints. We're continuing to track his whereabouts." According to the police spokesman, Nanan Soekarna: "Whoever the man is, it should be proved in a scientific way." DNA test results could take two weeks.

The bullet riddled body of the dead man was photographed by the media as it was removed from the scene of the 17 hour siege on Saturday. According to Sidney Jones, a regional security expert with the International Crisis Group said that the picture of the guy doesn't bear any resemblance to Noordin Top.

"Indonesia police concede Noordin Top evaded death", Telegraph, 8/10/09.

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Terrorist bombs claim 9 lives in Jakarta: Update 5

A suspected terrorist linked to several Indonesian bombings in the past decade was [reportedly] killed in a protracted firefight Saturday in the Central Java town of Temanggung. Another raid by police Saturday averted a planned assassination attempt on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, authorities said.

Noordin M. Top was [reportedly] killed during a raid by the anti-terrorism unit Detachment 88 that began Friday and lasted 18 hours into Saturday, said a police source and a security analyst with close ties to the police. Official confirmation of Top's identity will come next week after DNA results, said Indonesia's National Police Chief, Bambang Hendarso.

Indonesia's anti-terrorism forces had been hunting Top for the past six years. He is also the main suspect in last month's twin hotel bombings in Jakarta. A statement attributed to Top, 40, a Malaysian-born explosives expert, claimed responsibility for the attacks that targeted Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. The coordinated bombings killed seven people and the two suspected bombers, and wounded more than 50.

"Sources: Wanted terror suspect Top killed", CNN, 8/9/09.

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Terrorist bombs claim 9 lives in Jakarta: Update 4

More details are emerging about the bombing of the Marriott Hotel and Ritz Carlton Hotel in Jakarta last Friday. Firstly, Indonesian police believe that Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was the group involved in the bombings due to the evidence they have recovered from the scene and through their investigation.

It is likely that Noordin Top, a Malaysian fugitive who leads an affiliated group within JI, planned and organized the attacks. Last month, there were sightings of Top in central Java. Two weeks ago, authorities in Bogor believed they had him in their grasp. Then last week, a raid on his father-in-law's house uncovered bombs and a treasure trove of intelligence.

The July 17 blasts deal a big blow to Indonesia's image. President Yudhoyono's resounding re-election victory on July 8 was widely viewed as a sign of growing stability in the country. Foreign investors had been returning to the country, which is seen as a Southeast Asian success story — a nation where Islam and democracy peacefully coexist. Now that picture has been shattered.

Analysis:

• Police pressure and public revulsion at JI's murdering of civilians had convinced most of the group's surviving leaders to abandon terror tactics. Friday's attacks could indicate that a violent splinter faction committed to the old methods remains at large.
• JI partly has responded to government pressure by breaking into separate factions. One is a "mainstream," or nonviolent faction that believes high-profile attacks on Westerners don't advance the group's ultimate goal of a Pan-Southeast Asian Islamic caliphate. The other is a smaller group that prefers a strategy of violent confrontation with the secular Indonesian government and Western interests.
• The International Crisis Group estimates JI's active supporters could be as low as 1,000.
• The Friday attacks also show an evolution of terrorist tactics and methods. Previous attacks in Bali in 2002 and Jakarta in 2004 involved car bombs. The terrorists have reached a new level of sophistication and this was the most elaborate operation conducted so far. The attackers posed as guests at the hotel and set up a planning center in one of its rooms as a way to avoid the security measures that have made frontal assaults very difficult.

Resources:

• "Jakarta Suicide Bombers Challenged by Hotel Staff", Bloomberg, 7/20/09.
• "Jakarta bombings: Why Indonesia's Islamist radicals attack", Christian Science Monitor, 7/20/09.
• "Marriott hotel bomber singled out mining meeting," News.com.au, 7/20/09.
  
• "Will the Jakarta Bombings Scare Away Foreigners?", Time 7/20/09.
• "Indonesian Police Say Jakarta Bombings Are Work of Jemaah Islamiyah", Voice of America News, 7/19/09.
• "Hunt on for Top Terrorist," Sydney Morning Herald, 7/19/09.
  
• "Analysis: Jakarta attack may show evolution of Islamist terror group'" Christian Science Monitor, 7/17/09.
• "Twin hotel bombings break Indonesia's four-year calm", Christian Science Monitor, 7/17/09.
• "After a Four-Year Calm, Bombs Hit Jakarta Hotels", Time, 7/17/09.
• "Jemaah Islamiyah: A renewed struggle?", Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 7/16/09.

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