Chief suspects’ second attack on tourist haven
The two Malaysians notorious for their skills are as dissimilar as they are complementary. One is an expert at making bombs, the other a smooth talker adept at recruiting bombers.
‘Moneyman’ Noordin Mohamed Top, and Azahari bin Husin - known as the ‘Demolition Man’ for his knowledge of explosives - are key figures in the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for Saturday’s bombings that killed 26 people.
The two became Southeast Asia’s most wanted fugitives after allegedly masterminding the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people and the Jakarta suicide attacks in 2003 and 2004, which left 23 more dead.
Indonesian police say the two have eluded capture for several years by renting cheap houses in populated areas, with nearby back alleys for quick escapes.
Azahari, an Australian-trained engineer, and Noordin were close associates of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah’s former operational chief, Riduan Isamuddin.
Azahari, 48, studied mechanical engineering at Adelaide University in Australia before getting a doctorate in property valuation from Reading University in Britain in 1990. He taught at a Johor university before getting involved with Jemaah Islamiyah. He received bomb-making training in Mindanao in the southern Philippines in 1999 and advanced training in Afghanistan in 2000.
He fled Malaysia, leaving behind his wife and two children, after police uncovered his Jemaah Islamiyah role during a crackdown after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
Noordin, also from Johor, fled at the same time, and both arrived in Indonesia.
In July 2004, Azahari and Noordin narrowly escaped a police raid on a rented house west of Jakarta.
Neighbours described both as reclusive men who left the property only to pray at a nearby mosque.
By the time the two men allegedly plotted to blow up nightclubs in Bali in 2002, Azahari had become an expert in mixing explosives.
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