Jakarta: Indonesia will release DNA test results to remove any doubt one of Asia`s most wanted militants was killed, police said on Friday, as neighbouring Australia urged Jakarta to keep up the fight against Islamist extremism.
Police said Malaysian-born Noordin Mohammad Top, the suspected mastermind behind the bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta in July, died on Thursday in a shootout during a raid on a house near Solo in Central Java.
Top`s death was confirmed using Malaysian police fingerprint records but police spokesman Nanan Soekarna said the results of DNA tests on Top`s body would be made public on Friday.
Police were concerned about possible retaliation from militants as Indonesia heads for a holiday next week to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Soekarna said.
"We must keep on alert," Soekarna said by telephone.
Top, who set up a violent splinter group of regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah, was blamed for attacks in Bali and Jakarta that killed scores of Westerners and Indonesians.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia`s biggest economy and the world`s most populous Muslim country, had been under intense pressure to capture or kill Top ahead of a planned visit by US President Barack Obama in November.
"I think this reduces the threat level but he (Top) has a network and substantial portions of it remain at large and it`s clear that some of his capabilities have been transmitted to members of his network," said Kevin O`Rourke, a Jakarta-based political risk analyst and author.
Bureau Report
