The Indonesian government has intensified efforts to find fugitive Malaysian-born extremist Noordin M Top with the help of Malaysia and several other countries following the bombings of two hotels in Jakarta on Friday.
Indonesia continued to communicate and coordinate with the government and security personnel of Malaysia to look for and arrest Noordin M Top, Inspector General Ansyaad Mbai, head of the anti-terror desk of the political, legal and security affairs coordinating ministry, said here on Sunday.
The coordination with Malaysia covered among other things financial flows and sources of the terrorist's funds and explosive substances used to make the bombs.
"We constantly coordinate all aspects," Antara news agency quoted Ansyaad Mbai as saying.
The security personnel have also expanded the coverage of their search, not only in Java and Sumatra, but also in the country's other regions, according to Mbai.
Based on the findings and modus operandi of the Mega Kuningan bomb blasts on Friday (July 17), Noordin M Top and his network were suspected of behind the bombings. However, it still needed an intensive analysis, he said.
Meanwhile, Inspector General Nanan Sukarna, spokesman of the National Police Headquarters, said recently that the recent bombs which exploded in the two five-star hotels in Mega Kuningan area, were similar to those which exploded in Bali several years ago, and unused bombs were also found in Cilacap, Central Java recently.
Mbai earlier (Saturday, July 18) said that from the modus operandi used in Friday's bombings, which killed nine people and injured 52 others, including foreigners, it was clear they were linked to Noordin M Top.
Although over the past four years there were no terrorist actions in Indonesia, Noordin M Top and his network cells continued to consolidate themselves actively despite the security agencies' successes in tracing and arresting Noordin M Top's men, he said.
"Friday's incident proves that they are still strong. Arresting Noordin M Top, the actor, should now be a priority. As long as the actor is still at large, all anticipative measures will be useless," he said.
Over the past few weeks, security agencies had traced and detained a number of people in areas believed to be the hideouts of Noordin M Top and his followers, such as in Cilacap (Central Java), Lampung and Malang (East Java).
One of the terrorist suspects captured recently was Syaefudin Zuhri who was arrested in Cilacap in June 2009.
The Marriott Hotel bombing on Aug. 5, 2003 killed 12 people, including a Dutch national, and injured 147 others. The bombing was believed to have been masterminded by Azhari Husin and Noordin M Top, both Malaysian nationals. Azhari was killed in a police raid in East Java in November 2005 but Noordin M Top is still at large.
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2009)
