Indonesia says its forces shot dead Bali bombings suspect

INDONESIAN SECURITY forces have shot and killed the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings during a police raid near Jakarta, in what Indonesian authorities claim as a major success for their fight against Islamist militants.

Dulmatin, one of the most wanted militants in what is the world’s most populous Muslim country, was one of three killed in a shoot-out with police at an internet cafe and a nearby house, Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced yesterday during a visit to Australia.

“Today I can announce to you that after a successful police raid against the terrorists hiding out in Jakarta yesterday, we can confirm that one of those that was killed was Dulmatin, one of the top southeast Asian terrorists,” Mr Yudhoyono said in a speech in the Australian parliament in Canberra.

Dulmatin (39) went by one name and was trained by Osama bin-Laden’s al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

As one of the most senior members of the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) he was believed to have masterminded the suicide bombings that destroyed two Bali nightclubs popular with Westerners, killing 202 people in Indonesia’s deadliest terrorist attack, setting off the bombs with a mobile phone.

He was also blamed for the 2004 truck bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed 11.

He was identified after DNA tests and also by his chin shape, eyebrows and freckles, according to police. The other two men killed were said to be his bodyguards.

Indonesia has been keen to show it is serious about combating radical Islamists and the death of Dulmatin will boost the government ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama on March 20th.

Since the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesian authorities have captured or killed about 440 militant suspects, with some 250 convicted in courts and three executed by firing squad.

Dulmatin fled to the southern Philippines in 2003 where he was with the Abu Sayyef group and Washington had a $10 million price on his head.

Indonesia’s counter-terrorism unit, Detachment 88, has launched raids across the archipelago following the discovery of a militant Islamist training camp in Aceh last month.

Dulmatin was seen as a natural successor to Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian-born militant and bomber killed by police last year during a raid in central Java.