Police step up terror hunt

POLICE said they were narrowing in on a south-east Asia terror ringleader yesterday, with thousands of troops going door to door, checking cars, and combing railway and bus stations in central Indonesia.

The hunt for Malaysian fugitive Noordin Mohamad Top, believed to be a key member of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, follows the death of his close ally Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a police raid on Wednesday.

The discovery of more than 30 bombs inside Azahari’s hide-out, many of them small devices easily contained in backpacks, set off speculation that Jemaah Islamiyah was planning more terror strikes and added urgency to the hunt.

Jemaah Islamiyah wants to establish an Islamic state spanning Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines. Former members say it is motivated in part by anger at US foreign policy in the Muslim world,

Azahari was noted for his bomb-making skills and his death was a blow to the group, but security experts cautioned that several key Jemaah Islamiyah figures remain on the run. Top is seen as the group’s real strategist and one of its main recruiters.

“We’re moving in on Noordin,” said Major General Ansyaad Mbai, the country’s anti-terror chief. “It’s only a matter of time before we catch him.”

Troops were scouring bus and railway stations in Central Java province and going door to door in some places, said police spokesman Major General Aryanto Budihardjo.

Top and Azahari are accused of involvement in at least four terror attacks: the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists; bombings in Jakarta in 2003 and 2004 that killed at least 22; and the October 1 suicide attacks in Bali that killed 20.