Indonesia captures aide of top militant - police

JAKARTA, June 10 (Reuters) Indonesian police have captured a suspected aide of wanted militant Abu Dujana, who is thought to head a splinter group of Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a police spokesman said today.

Dujana has replaced Noordin M Top, a Malaysian national considered a mastermind behind a series of bomb attacks, as Indonesia's most wanted fugitive, deputy police chief Makbul Padmanegara told reporters last week.

The captured man, named Mahfud but also known as Yusron, was caught by Detachment 88, Indonesia's secretive anti-terror unit, in the town of Banyumas in Central Java, National Police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto said by telephone.

''We have captured Mahfud alias Yusron. He is suspected of being a member of Abu Dujana's staff,'' Adiwinoto said.

Mahfud was caught yesterday, said Adiwinoto, but no bombs had been found. He declined to give details of the operation.

The spokesman said that from information provided by Mahfud they were looking for Dujana and other militants.

''We are looking for other suspects as well as evidence still been examined now, so we can't give further information.'' Banyumas is about 125 km northwest of the city of Yogyakarta and 320 km southeast of the capital, Jakarta.

After a series of raids earlier this year, police revealed that Dujana had emerged as the head of a military wing of JI after the death in 2005 of master bomb-maker Azahari Husin.

Asian and Western authorities blame Jemaah Islamiah for a series of attacks in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 people on the resort island of Bali.

Police previously said Dujana had direct control of the group's ammunition and explosives, including distribution and storage.

In the March raids, police said they had also found a huge cache of weapons, explosives and chemicals that could be used to make a bomb bigger than the main device used in Bali.

Dujana is wanted in connection with several deadly bombings including the 2004 Australian embassy blast in Jakarta and a car bombing at the JW Marriot hotel in the capital a year earlier.

Although there has not been a major bomb attack since 2005, police say Indonesia still faces a considerable threat from Islamic militants.

Reuters SG GC1302