Fugitive linked to Jakarta blasts
Tributes are left for those killed in the hotel attacks
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Indonesian officials say there are “strong indications” a key wanted fugitive was behind Friday’s deadly attacks on two hotels in Jakarta.
Noordin Mohamed Top is wanted for plotting the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 and other Indonesian attacks.
Nine people, including two suicide bombers, died in the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott.
At least four of Friday’s victims are said to be foreigners but have not all been formally identified.
Police in the Indonesian capital are studying DNA and other evidence to try to identify those behind the attacks.
The anti-terror chief, Ansyaad Mbai, has told the News he believes there are strong indications that Noordin was the mastermind behind the blasts.
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NOORDIN MOHAMED TOP
 Born in Malaysia, fled to Indonesia after 9/11
Wanted for planning bombings on Bali in 2002 and 2005 and other attacks
Said to have split from Jemaah Islamiah over strategy disagreements and set up new group
Main accomplice Azahari Husin killed by police in 2005
Escaped police raid in 2006 and continues to evade capture
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Noordin was said to be a key financier for the Jemaah Islamiah militant group but is now thought to have set up his own splinter group.
Jemaah Islamiah has links to al-Qaeda and has a long track record of bomb attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed more than 200 people.
Friday’s bombs contained nails, ball bearings and bolts, identical to ones used by Jemaah Islamiah, police said.
Mr Mbai said he believed the aim of the attacks was to embarrass Indonesia’s government at a time when the country was enjoying a greater degree of stability than it had in the past.
The Indonesian people have been truly shocked by these attacks as they thought they had put events like this behind them.
Investigators on Friday recovered an unexploded bomb and other explosives material from what they said was the “control centre” for the attacks – room 1808 in the Marriott.
The attackers paid to stay at the hotel and smuggled in the explosives before detonating them in two restaurants on Friday.
CCTV footage showed one attacker wearing a cap pulling a bag on wheels into the Marriott restaurant, followed by a flash and smoke.
Security has been tightened across Indonesia in the wake of the attacks, with 500 troops put on standby to support police in the capital.
‘Shoulder to shoulder’
A New Zealander, businessman Tim Mackay, has been confirmed killed.
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 I strongly condemn the attacks that occurred… in Jakarta and extend my deepest condolences to all of the victims and their loved ones  Barack Obama
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Indonesian police say Australians Nathan Verity and Garth McEvoy also died.
Their countryman, diplomat Craig Senger, was at the same breakfast meeting. He is missing and feared dead.
A health ministry report said a Singaporean and an Indonesian were also confirmed dead.
At least 17 foreigners were among the wounded, including eight Americans.
Other foreign nationals wounded included visitors from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea and the UK.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the attacks as “cruel and inhuman”.
US President Barack Obama said: “I strongly condemn the attacks that occurred… in Jakarta and extend my deepest condolences to all of the victims and their loved ones.”
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is due to arrive in Jakarta on Saturday.
He said he wanted to stand “shoulder to shoulder with Indonesia at this terrible time”.
The Manchester United football team had been booked to stay in the Ritz-Carlton next week ahead of a game in Jakarta.
The team has cancelled the Indonesian leg of their tour.
The attacks come just weeks after the peaceful presidential elections.
The country of 240 million people has been praised in recent years for maintaining a pluralist democracy while finding and punishing radical Islamists responsible for the series of bombings more than five years ago.
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