Wanted terrorist believed blown up

SINGAPORE – Azahari Husin, a bomb-making expert who was one of the most-wanted terror suspects in Southeast Asia, was apparently killed in Indonesia when he blew himself up during a standoff with police, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said today.

Azahari, a Malaysian, allegedly oversaw assembly of the bombs that killed 202 people in Bali nightclubs three years ago. Police believe he was one of three men whom officers surrounded Wednesday in a hideout in the East Java city of Malang. The standoff ended in a series of explosions that killed all three suspects.

“There is a strong indication that it is Azahari,” Yudhoyono told reporters in Jakarta. “But we need to carry out laboratory tests” to confirm his identity.

Azahari, a top operative of the Jemaah Islamiah terror network, has been the target of an intense manhunt since last month’s bombings of three Bali restaurants that killed 23 people, including three suicide bombers.

His death would be a major setback for the group because few terrorists in the region can match his skill in constructing bombs and organizing attacks, experts say.

Gen. Sutanto, the national police chief, said during Wednesday’s siege the suspects set off 11 explosive devices. The last blast was the largest and apparently killed the three men, the chief said.

“That was their bomb, a suicide bomb,” Sutanto told reporters Wednesday night. “It seems that they are all dead with that big explosion.”

Authorities have said in the past that Azahari often wore an explosives belt so that he could blow himself up rather than be captured.

Indonesian television broadcast footage of the house after the final blast, showing the roof blown off, walls damaged and glass scattered all around.