Indonesia kills suspected Bali bomber in Jakarta police raid

Published 11 March 2010

Terrorist bomb-maker Dulmartin, who prepared the explosives for the 2002 nightclub bombing that killed more than 200 people and injured another 240, killed in police raid; many of the victims were tourists or foreign nationals

Indonesian officials report that a police raid on a Jakarta safe house led to the killing of the notorious terrorist bomb-maker Dulmartin, the man authorities believe responsible for the bombing of the Bali nightclub in 2002 which took the lives of 202 people.

The terrorist attack was considered the worst in Indonesian history, and was followed in 2005 by a series of suicide bombs in southern Bali, in the busy tourist areas of Jimbaran and Kuta.

Dulmatin’s death comes six months after members of Indonesia’s elite U.S.– trained counterterrorism unit killed Noordin Top, the leader of a splinter group of the al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization, Jemaah Islamiyah.

Indonesia’s population is predominantly Muslim, with significant Hindu and Christian minorities. Bali is overwhelmingly Hindu – the only majority Hindu province in Indonesia.

In recent years, the largely secular regime of President Yudhoyono has made progress in tracking down militants in that country. The United States considers Indonesia a second front in the war on terror. Dulmatin’s death is an indication of the increasing success on the part of the country’s police force in intelligence gathering.

Dulmartin was considered a crucial link between a group that calls itself al Qaeda for Southeast Asia and militant groups in the Philippines, including the terrorist organization known as the Abu Sayyaf. Indonesian officials report capturing twenty-one militants in that country since late February. Authorities claim information gleaned from the captives has been valuable in investigating other terrorist activities.

Dulmartin was known to have trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan. He was considered an expert bomb maker, and the United States had placed a $10 million bounty on his head, according to the U.S. State Department.

President Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia and often refers to himself as having been a “Jakarta street kid,” is scheduled to make an official state visit to the country on 20 March. He is expected to meet with President Yudhoyono to discuss further cooperation in the fight against terrorism.