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Police foil plot to kill Indonesian president

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-09 10:15

BEJI, Indonesia: A leading Southeast Asian terrorist suspect reportedly killed Saturday in a gunbattle with police at a village hide-out was planning a suicide car bomb attack on Indonesia's president, the national police chief said.

Police said they could not confirm that the body recovered from the house in central Java was that of Noordin Mohammad Top until DNA tests are complete.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono holds up a portrait of himself, that was used for shooting practice by a terror group and uncovered by the Indonesian intelligence agency, during a news conference at the presidential place in Jakarta in this July 17, 2009 file photo. [Agencies]

Noordin is suspected of having masterminded Southeast Asia's worst terror attacks, some with al-Qaida backing. If verified, his death would be a major victory in Indonesia's fight against Islamist militants blamed for five major bombings that killed 250 people, including attacks on Bali island in 2002 and 2005.

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National police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said Noordin and other militants had been plotting to bomb the home of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Police on Saturday also raided a house on the outskirts of Jakarta where they killed two suspected militants and seized bombs and a car rigged to carry them, the police chief said. The house is three miles (five kilometers) from the president's residence.

He said the decision to attack Yudhoyono was made at an April 30 meeting led personally by Noordin because of the government's decision to execute three convicted Bali bombers.

Yudhoyono told reporters he had been briefed about an ongoing operation "to uphold law and to eradicate terrorism," but made no mention of Noordin.

"I extend my highest gratitude and respect to the police for their brilliant achievement in this operation," he said.

Noordin is also suspected of planning last month's suicide bombings at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed seven people and ended a four-year pause in terror strikes in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

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