Police basked in the limelight Thursday, after a nine-year manhunt ended for the region’s most wanted terrorist following a raid on a house in Surakarta, Central Java. “Alhamdulillah [praise God]," National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said.Noordin M. Top, a Malaysian national, was among four suspected terrorists killed in the raid in Jebres in the early hours of Thursday morning.“We have conducted fingerprint tests and we have also crosschecked them with the Malaysian police and we can confirm that the body belongs to number one terrorist fugitive Noordin Mohammad Top,” he said to the sound of applause at a press conference. “I am deeply appreciative of my boys [referring to police force], who worked hard, who did not think of looking for promotions, who could not return home” during the intense operations, he said.Displaying photos of Noordin's fingerprints he said 14 points matched between the body and data provided by the Malaysian police. thejakartapost

DNA testing shows that Indonesia's most wanted terror suspect, Noordin M Top, was not killed in an 18-hour raid last week, national police said on Wednesday.

The confirmation from Edy Suparwoko, of the national police disaster victim identification unit, refutes law enforcement reports over the weekend that Noordin, 40, had been killed.

Police have hunted for Noordin for years, accusing him of involvement in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing and attacks on the Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003 and Australian embassy in 2004.

He also is the main suspect in last month's twin hotel bombings in Jakarta, which killed seven people and the two suspected bombers, and wounded more than 50.

JOHOR BARU, Aug 11 – The family of Noordin Mohammad Top in Johor does not believe that the man gunned down by Indonesian police in Temanggung, Central Java, was that of the country's most wanted terrorist. After looking at photographs distributed by the authorities, Noordin's family members were more confident that the man who was shot was not him.

“According to Noordin's family members, they are confident that the man in the photographs was not Noordin," a man identified as Badarudin Ismail and claiming to speak on behalf of Noordin's family was quoted as saying in the www.detik.com website Monday.He claimed that Noordin's wife, Rahmah, strongly believed that the man in the photographs, which were distributed, was not her husband. (themalaysianinsider.com)

An intelligent observer Dinno Cressbon said Sunday most wanted terror suspect Noordin M. Top would have been unlikely to choose Beji hamlet, Temanggung, Central Java as a hideout.

"Beji is different. It is surrounded by hills where he could not escape, while his previous nine hideouts usually got an easy access to the road and the sea.

"That's why I doubt the dead terror suspect is Noordin M. Top."

He said police could not conclude the remains were Noordin just because the dead man once admitted he was Noordin before police killed him, kompas.com reported

"It's not enough," he added.
Police believed they had killed Noordin in a raid in Temanggung from Friday to Saturday.
Source : The Jakarta Post

Malaysia should neither be branded nor perceived as a breeding ground for terrorists, just because of the involvement of one or two people in terrorism, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

Commenting on Jemaah Islamiah (JI) splinter group leader Noordin Mat Top, who is believed to have been shot dead in Temanggung, Central Java Friday, he said Malaysia has long been a democratic and peaceful country: read more

Local TV stations reported militant chief Noordin Mohammad Top, who is blamed for last month's attacks on two American hotels in the capital, Jakarta, 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. DNA tests will likely have to be performed to ensure the identification.

The suicide attacks on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta killed seven people, all but one of them foreigners, and ended a four-year pause in terror strikes in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim.