BALI, Indonesia – Indonesian police raided a house Friday where one of the suspected masterminds of last week’s Bali bombings was believed to be hiding out, but the Malaysian fugitive fled three hours earlier, officials said.
The pre-dawn raid occurred at a house in central Java province used by Noordin Mohamed Top, one of the most-wanted men in Southeast Asia, police said. Acting on a tip, about 20 officers moved in on a house in Purwantoro at about 4 a.m., only to learn that Noordin fled hours before, said Abdul Madjid, a police chief in the city of Solo.
“We can confirm it was him,” Madjid said, adding that police delayed the raid by several hours because they were concerned Noordin was armed with explosives. By the time reinforcements arrived, “it was too late,” he said.
Noordin, 35, is one of two Malaysians accused of planning Saturday’s near-simultaneous suicide bombings on three crowded restaurants on the Indonesian resort island that killed 23, including the bombers. More than 100 people were wounded.
The other suspected mastermind is Azahari bin Husin. Both are believed to be key leaders of the regional al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Both men also were allegedly behind the 2002 nightclub Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people, and suicide attacks in Jakarta in 2004 and 2003 that killed at least 22.
The pair has eluded capture for years by renting cheap houses in densely populated areas, with nearby back alleys for quick escapes. Police have claimed several times in the last few years to have narrowly captured the Malaysian fugitives.
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