Bin Laden warns US of more attacks
Osama Bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has warned Barack Obama, the US president, that there will be further attacks on the United States unless he takes steps to resolve the Palestinian situation.

In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera on Sunday, the world’s most wanted man also praised the Nigerian accused of a failed attempt to blow up an airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas Day.

“The message I want to convey to you through the plane of the hero Omar Farouk , reaffirms a previous message that the heroes of 9/11 conveyed to you,” Bin Laden said.
US official, however, doubts Osama’s claim that Omar Farouk’s action under Osama’s command:
U.S. intelligence officials quickly raised doubts about Bin Laden’s role and suggested the statement was an attempt to score propaganda points for a plot already claimed by an increasingly independent faction of his movement in Yemen.

In the clip, Bin Laden said his group was behind the failed attempt allegedly carried out by Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight.

Speaking directly to President Obama, the Al Qaeda leader vowed to continue launching terrorist attacks against the United States as long as Washington supported what he described as Israel’s unjust treatment of Palestinians.

Update 4.11 local time: Kapolri (chief of police) just announces in a press confrence that Noordin Mohammad Top is indeed among the four terrorists who were killed in Solo Jateng.

Scroll down to watch the video

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It’s obvious that after discrepancies over Noordin M Top’s death on August 2009 which turned out to be untrue, the breaking news on Indonesia’s news channel like Metro TV and TVOne that he’s among the dead on Solo ambush tonight regarded with vague responses.

That’s said, both Metro TV and TVOne have to say that yes, Noordin Top are among the dead. Reuters seems to confirm that news too based on sources from security forces who involved in the attack:
Indonesia’s most-wanted Islamic militant, Noordin Mohammad Top, may have been killed in a shoot-out in Central Java, security and police sources said on Thursday.

Indonesian police stormed a house in Java overnight and killed four people.

“We are 90 percent certain that it’s Noordin Top,” a police source who was involved in the raid on a house in Solo, Central Java, told Reuters. Asked how he could be sure, the source said he had seen the face of the dead man believed to be Top.

Other security and police sources also said they strongly believed Top had been killed.
The Jakarta Globe, though in doubt and more careful, seems supporting the assumption of Noordin’s death
Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist Noordin M Top “could be” one of the casualties of the Thursday morning terrorism raid in Solo, Central Java, Indonesian television stations have reported.

The fingerprints of one of the victims allegedly matched with those of Noordin in a police database, reported television stations Metro TV, TV One and RCTI.

Confirmation of a fingerprint match and DNA test would probably take two or three days.

AFP reported that a decapitated corpse believed to be Noordin’s was among four bodies recovered after the early morning raid on a village house, according to an officer from the elite Densus 88 antiterror squad.
Well, let’s hope his death this time around is true. If it’s the case, what a gift for Indonesia and Indonesian Muslims on the eve of Idul Fitri 2009!

Picture of Noordin Muhammad Top like this one has been circulated by police around the country. Including in my neighborhood

Video of Noordin M. Top’s Dead

Couldn’t agree more. Terrorism and terrorists have to be dealt with solid human intelligence. In international level, that means the US has to honestly make friends with international community based on mutual respect and equality.

In terms of Indonesia, Indonesian police force have to be more friendly with Islamic institution (pesantren and madrasah) and Islamic organisation (NU, Muhammadiyah, Jama’ah Tabligh, etc) to win the heart and mind of them (Santri community). A report from Reuters:

The United States is having more success fighting terrorism under President Barack Obama partly because of his “radically different” approach to foreign policy, National security adviser Jim Jones said on Monday.

In an interview with ABC News, Jones said Obama’s efforts to reach out to world leaders and improve relations with law enforcement agencies had made it easier to track and kill terrorists than during the Bush administration.

“We have better human intelligence. We know where the terrorists are moving,” Jones told ABC.

“Because of the dialogue and the tone of the dialogue between us and our friends and allies … the trend line against terrorism is positive,” he added.

It turns out, the man who’s been killed in police raid in Temanggung, Central Java was Ibrohim–Noordin’s partner, not Noordin Mohd Top as previously assumed. VOA reports:
Indonesian police say DNA tests show that a militant killed in a police raid at the weekend was not Malaysian terror suspect Noordin Mohammed Top.

Indonesian national police official Eddy Saparwoko said Wednesday that the suspect shot dead during a siege in Central Java has been identified as a man named Ibrohim.

He says they compared the DNA with his family and the match was 100 percent.

DNA evidence also showed that the body is not, as was suspected, that of Noordin Mohammed Top, Indonesia’s most wanted terror suspect. Noordin has ties with the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah and is suspected of planning the recent hotel bombings in Jakarta as well as other terrorist attacks in the past decade.

Police say Ibrohim was involved in the execution of the suicide bombings last month at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. They say Ibrohim had been working as a florist at both hotels since 2005 and was able to bypass security to bring into the hotels the explosives used in the attacks. Police say he also recruited the two suicide bombers.

Although Noordin M Top’s death is yet to be confirmed by Indonesian police until the dead’s DNA test result is officially announced, Australian PM has already expressed his gratitude over Noordin’s probable death symbolizing the important of the Indonesian police raid:
Indonesian authorities believe they may have killed the terrorist mastermind during a raid on a central Java home yesterday.

Authorities are waiting on DNA tests to confirm whether the suspected organiser of bombings on two Jakarta hotels last month and other attacks, is dead.

Mr Rudd says it is a sober reminder of the threat of terrorism and has praised Indonesian police and security agencies.

“When it comes to the most recent incident at the Marriott in Jakarta, Australia’s view and the Australian Government’s view is that we should be sparing no resource whatsoever to track down those murderers responsible for this and other terrorist attacks,” he said.

“I would thank the Indonesian authorities for the actions that they have taken so far.”

It’s good news for Indonesians. And great news for humanity. Dead to all terrorists.
Indonesian police have shot dead a man suspected to be fugitive Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body, a police source said on Saturday.

Separately, police found five bombs during another raid on a house in Bekasi near the capital Jakarta, the source who is close to the investigation told Reuters.

Police nab alleged Jamaah Islamiyah top bomber recruit
INDONESIAN police have arrested a suspected would-be suicide bomber linked to the Malaysian terror mastermind believed to be behind last week’s attacks in Jakarta, reports said on Thursday.

The man had confessed to being groomed as a suicide bomber by Noordin Mohammed Top, Central Java police chief Alex Bambang Riatmodjo was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Antara.

‘Based on the explanation we’ve received, this person has admitted that they were recruited by Noordin M. Top to become the perpetrator of a suicide bomb,’ Mr Riatmodjo said.

‘Apart from that, we can’t convey yet what location would have been the target of this man. What is clear is that he has admitted to all accusations.’ The man had been taken to police headquarters in Jakarta for questioning.