Indonesian police killed two militants believed to be connected with a 2004 embassy bombing and found a cache of explosives in an early morning raid Saturday on a house on the outskirts of Jakarta, the national police chief said.
Police found about 100 kg (220 lbs) of explosives along with bomb-making materials and a truck, which they did not immediately open out of fear it might have been rigged to explode, Chief Bambang Hendarso said.
The dead militants are suspected of being linked to the attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in which 16 people were killed and more than 200 wounded, Hendarso said.
Meanwhile, a firefight in Indonesia's Central Java region continued at a house in Temanggung, where three to four people were believed to be holed up, police said.
Police were planning to send more personnel and surveillance robots into the house, said spokesman Sulistyo Ishak.
The standoff involves Indonesian anti-terrorism forces hunting Noordin Top, the main suspect in last month's Jakarta hotel bombings as well as a suspect in the embassy attack, police officials told CNN.
"The anti-terror unit in Central Java was targeting a person of interest," police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told CNN. "A gunfight broke out when the unit was raiding the house."
Ishak could not confirm Indonesian media reports that Top may be inside.
The firefight began Friday afternoon. Witnesses told Indonesian television that they had been moved out of view of the house but could hear gunfire and explosions from that direction.
The security forces launched a raid on the house after two people believed to be nephews of its owner were arrested earlier in the day, according to Indonesia's official ANTARA News Agency.
A statement attributed to Top claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing attacks last month targeting Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. The coordinated bombings killed seven people and the two suspected bombers and wounded more than 50.
It was the first major terrorist attack in Indonesia in more than three years.
Top, a Malaysian-born explosives expert, is thought to be behind several bombing campaigns in Indonesia during the past decade.
Top, who turns 41 next week, is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bomb-maker and trainer for a small splinter group of the militant organization Jemaah Islamiyah, which has ties to al Qaeda. He allegedly was involved in a previous attack on the Marriott in Jakarta in August 2003, as well as attacks on a Bali nightclub in 2002, and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, according to the FBI.
In February 2006, the FBI added Top to its list of 10 suspected terrorists who have not been charged in the United States, and officially are wanted only for questioning.
Indonesian police took into questioning one of his wives, Arina Rohmah, last month, but according to her lawyer, she did not know she was married to Top but rather to a teacher known as Abdul Halim.
Also on Saturday, police Inspector General Nanan Soekarna said that a man identified as Suryana, who uses the aliases Yayan and Gepeng, was arrested in north Jakarta on suspicion of terrorism charges.
Soekarna could not say if Suryana was connected with last month's Jakarta hotel bombings or other incidents.
Source:CNN
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