11 March 2010 / REUTERS, CANBARRA, JAKARTA
A suspected mastermind of the Bali bombings was killed in a police raid in Indonesia in the latest blow to an Islamist militant movement in the world’s most populous Muslim country.
Dulmatin, who once trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was one of three militants killed in a shootout with police at an Internet cafe, Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday. ”Today I can announce to you that after a successful police raid against the terrorists hiding out in Jakarta yesterday, we can confirm that one of those that was killed was Dulmatin, one of the top Southeast Asian terrorists,” Yudhoyono said in a speech in Australia’s parliament house in Canberra. The series of police raids that led to Dulmatin’s death will be seen as a coup in Indonesia’s fight against extremists ahead US President Barack Obama’s visit March 20-22. But analysts said Dulmatin’s emergence in Indonesia with a new group showed a worrisome ability of Indonesian militants to forge international links, including with al-Qaeda-affiliated outfits. Indonesian police shot dead Dulmatin and two others in a series of coordinated raids on the outskirts of southern Jakarta on Tuesday. Dulmatin, an electronics specialist, was a top bomb technician for the Southeast Asian militant group, Jemaah Islamiah.
