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Azahari's death confirmed
 Indonesia on Thursday confirmed that master bomb-maker and Islamic radical Azahari Husin, one of Asia's top terror suspects and most wanted men, was killed after a shootout with police. Azahari, a Malaysian from the al-Qaeda linked Jemaaah Islamiyah (JI) militant network who was known as the 'Demolition Man', was tracked down Wednesday at his remote hideway in Batu. But Indonesian police changed their story on how he was killed, saying he was shot dead by counter-terrorist forces and had not blown himself up as initially reported. Indonesia's national police chief said another militant, identified as Arman, died alongside Azahari, killed when he pulled the cord on an explosive-lined vest as police and soldiers closed in. He said Azahari had tried to do the same, but failed and instead died in a hail of police bullets. The vests, one of which was seen by AAP in the rubble of the house, were similar to those believed to have been used in last month's triple suicide bombings in Bali. General Sutanto said fingerprinting had confirmed that Azahari, known as a master of disguise, had been killed during the stand-off in East Java. "There were two comparative (sets of fingerprints) and both are identical," General Sutanto told reporters, showing sets taken from a body as well as prints from Malaysian documents dated 1969 and bearing Azahari's photo. Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said in Jakarta that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been informed of Azahari's death and had congratulated police. Residents said Azahari had lived in the rundown house with two other men for about three months. Confirmation of his death is a coup for Indonesian security services against JI, the group blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people as well as a triple suicide bombing on the resort island last month. Police said they had also identified two of the three bombers who killed 20 people at packed restaurants with shrapnel-packed bombs on October 1. The pair were publicly identified only as MS and MN, but national police spokesman Aryanto Budiharjo said their identities had been confirmed after DNA testing and through information provided by their families. Mr Budiharjo said they came from Java island but provided no further details. He did not say whether there was a link between their identification and the capture of Azahari. Bali police chief I Made Mangku Pastika said in Bali there was no doubt there was a link between the group at Azahari's hideaway and the triple bombing. "It is clear that there is a link, the October 1 Bali bombings in Kuta and Jimbaran were conducted by this group," Mr Pastika said. General Sutanto earlier toured the destroyed house at Batu, where bomb squad officers found 30 wired explosive devices. They were not very powerful, he said, indicating that the group was being stymied by a lack of funds. "To make powerful bombs, they would need a large amount of funds. At the present time, they are short on funds so that the bombs they are building are not like those in the past," he said. Azahari and his Malaysian compatriot Noordin Mohammad Top had been sought for both Bali attacks as well as at least two other bloody attacks - on Jakarta's Marriott hotel in 2003 and on the Australian embassy in 2004. JI expert Sidney Jones had warned recently the pair appeared to be splitting from the network to form an even more hardline force on their own. JI's goal is to unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines in a fundamentalist Islamic state, and it uses attacks to destabilise regional governments. Unlike the mainstream JI, Azahari's followers are simply focused on avenging the deaths of Muslims around the world by striking at the United States and its "lackeys", Mr Jones told AFP last month. Azahari, in his late forties, studied in Australia for four years in the late 1970s before obtaining an engineering degree in Malaysia and a doctorate at England's Reading University in land management. He became a lecturer at Malaysia's University of Technology before dropping out of sight during a crackdown on Islamic militants in 2001. While some reports say he trained in bomb-making in Afghanistan, he was believed to have honed his skills with Muslim separatists in Mindanao in the southern Philippines in 1999. Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian 2005-11-10 |
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