Indonesia police say thwarted big militant attack

JAKARTA, May 15 (Reuters) A police raid on Islamic militants in Indonesia last month may have prevented a large-scale bomb attack, the country's police chief said today.

Although there was no definitive word on the intended target, it could have been a summit of eight Muslim-majority nations which was held on the island of Bali last week or a Buddhist celebration at the famed Borobudur Temple, national police chief Sutanto told a parliamentary committee.

A police anti-terror unit raided a militant safehouse on Java island on April 29, police have said. The main target, Noordin Top, one of Asia's most wanted bombing suspects, escaped.

However, two people the police identified as violent Islamic militants were killed in the gunbattle, and have linked the capture of several suspects to the raid.

They also found the militants had prepared explosives with ''big power'', Sutanto said.

''It was possibly that the D-8 event... in Bali was their target or the Waisak celebration that been done at Borobudur temple,'' he said.

The D-8 group includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Although all those countries are majority Muslim, most of their leaders are considered moderate and some of the nations including Indonesia are officially secular.

The Borobudur temple in Java is one of Indonesia's most historic sites and a popular tourist attraction. It is a Buddhist monument and ceremonies marking Waisak, the day the Buddha is said to have been born, gained enlightenment and died, were held there on Saturday.

One captured suspect had recently surveyed the Borobudur site, Sutanto said.

Indonesia has suffered from several attacks in recent years blamed by police and intelligence officials on the militant Southeast Asian network Jemaah Islamiah, linked to al Qaeda.

Top was one of the group's leaders, police say, although recently he may have formed his own organisation.

The deadliest bombing attack tied to Top and Jemaah Islamiah was in Bali in 2002, when 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed. Others include blasts at a luxury hotel and the Australian embassy in Jakarta, and a second attack in Bali last year.

REUTERS SHB BD1853