bobdina
09-16-2009, 11:32 PM
SOLO, Indonesia (AP) -- An official says that four alleged militants were killed and a police officer wounded by gunfire and an explosion during a raid on a suspected hideout overnight in central Indonesia.
An anti-terror official says the raid ended around daybreak when an explosion was detonated inside a besieged village house on the outskirts of the town of Solo, in Central Java. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to the media.
He says that the four dead include a fugitive bomb maker who was wanted in connection with twin suicide blasts at luxury hotels in Jakarta in July.
The official says the blast is believed to have been a suicide bomb.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SOLO, Indonesia (AP) - An explosion and gunfire rocked a besieged village house in central Indonesia where counterterrorism forces hunted Thursday for suspects in July's twin suicide bombings in the capital, witnesses and officials said. At least two body bags were removed from the scene.
Police cordoned off a neighborhood late Wednesday in a suburb of the Central Java city of Solo, a stronghold for hardline Islamist groups, and shots rang out through the night, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.
An explosion went off around daybreak Thursday and four ambulances later drove away carrying at least two bodies in orange bags, the reporter said.
Police had confirmed a special forces operation was unfolding, but declined to give details. They could not be reached to comment on local television reports that police officers were injured in a shootout.
"I ran out of my house in fear when I heard the gunfire," said Widjan, a neighbor, who like many Indonesian goes by one name.
The besieged property was rented several months ago by a young couple, and the two work as teachers at an Islamic boarding school and a kindergarten, local village chief Suratim said.
Police were searching for key suspects believed to be hiding at the house, an official with the counterterrorism force said. Backup units with anti-explosives equipment were deployed, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk to the media.
The raid comes as police continue a massive manhunt for perpetrators of attacks on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta on July 17. The blasts killed seven people and wounded more than 50, ending nearly four years without terrorist strikes in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.
Several suspects have been detained or gunned down in raids in recent weeks, but the alleged terrorist mastermind, Malaysian fugitive Noordin Muhammad Top, remains at large. Police are also still searching for several militant operatives believed to have planned the operation and recruited the bombers.
Noordin allegedly leads a breakaway group of the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah, which carried out a string of bombings in Indonesia in recent years with the support of al-Qaida.
Terrorist attacks have killed 250 people in Indonesia since 2002, most of them in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that left more than 200 people dead, most of them foreign tourists.
An anti-terror official says the raid ended around daybreak when an explosion was detonated inside a besieged village house on the outskirts of the town of Solo, in Central Java. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to the media.
He says that the four dead include a fugitive bomb maker who was wanted in connection with twin suicide blasts at luxury hotels in Jakarta in July.
The official says the blast is believed to have been a suicide bomb.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SOLO, Indonesia (AP) - An explosion and gunfire rocked a besieged village house in central Indonesia where counterterrorism forces hunted Thursday for suspects in July's twin suicide bombings in the capital, witnesses and officials said. At least two body bags were removed from the scene.
Police cordoned off a neighborhood late Wednesday in a suburb of the Central Java city of Solo, a stronghold for hardline Islamist groups, and shots rang out through the night, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.
An explosion went off around daybreak Thursday and four ambulances later drove away carrying at least two bodies in orange bags, the reporter said.
Police had confirmed a special forces operation was unfolding, but declined to give details. They could not be reached to comment on local television reports that police officers were injured in a shootout.
"I ran out of my house in fear when I heard the gunfire," said Widjan, a neighbor, who like many Indonesian goes by one name.
The besieged property was rented several months ago by a young couple, and the two work as teachers at an Islamic boarding school and a kindergarten, local village chief Suratim said.
Police were searching for key suspects believed to be hiding at the house, an official with the counterterrorism force said. Backup units with anti-explosives equipment were deployed, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk to the media.
The raid comes as police continue a massive manhunt for perpetrators of attacks on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta on July 17. The blasts killed seven people and wounded more than 50, ending nearly four years without terrorist strikes in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.
Several suspects have been detained or gunned down in raids in recent weeks, but the alleged terrorist mastermind, Malaysian fugitive Noordin Muhammad Top, remains at large. Police are also still searching for several militant operatives believed to have planned the operation and recruited the bombers.
Noordin allegedly leads a breakaway group of the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah, which carried out a string of bombings in Indonesia in recent years with the support of al-Qaida.
Terrorist attacks have killed 250 people in Indonesia since 2002, most of them in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that left more than 200 people dead, most of them foreign tourists.