Bali bombing suspect killed in a shootout

Jakarta, Mar 10: In an major achievement for the Indonesian security forces, the suspect in the Bali bombing case was killed an encounter at an Internet cafe, the President said on Wednesday, Mar 10.

The deceased identified as Dulmatin, a Southeast Asian militant trained by the al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was wanted in connection with the suicide bombings in two Bali nightclubs popular with Westerners in 2002, in which 202 people killed.

39-year-old Dulmatin was killed in raids conducted by the police on Tuesday, Mar 9 as part of the crackdown on a suspected Jemaah Islamiyah cell that had recently established a paramilitary training camp in the western province of Aceh.

The raids were conducted based on the information given by around 20 suspected militants from Aceh and Java who are in custody, police said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed the death of Dulmatin through a speech addressing officials in the Australian capital of Canberra on Wednesday, Mar 10.

"Today we can announce to you that after a successful police raid against the terrorist hiding out in Jakarta yesterday that we can confirm that one of those that were killed was Mr. Dulmatin, one of the top Southeast Asian terrorists that we've been looking for," Yudhoyono said in a luncheon speech in Parliament House.

Dulmatin's dead comes ahead of President Barack Obama's first visit to the country on Mar 20-22. The talk is believed to be centered on terrorism in the region

The dead of the alleged master bomb maker of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group, a Southeast Asian offshoot of al-Qaeda will act as a major boost for the Indonesian security forces.

OneIndia News