Noordin M. Top die

KEPUH SARI: Armed Indonesian police stormed an Islamic militant hideout early Thursday in a raid that killed fugitive terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top and three other militants, police said.

Noordin's body was among four recovered after the early morning raid on a village house in Central Java, national police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters, bringing to an end an exhaustive six-year manhunt.

"From national police doctors' examinations, antemortem (investigations) and finger prints sent by Malaysian police, thank God on this holy month of Ramadan... it's Noordin M Top," Danuri said to applause.

Loud explosions and gunfire were heard as police raided the rented house at around sunrise after a nine-hour siege on the outskirts of Solo city, a stronghold of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) radical network.

The raid left the simple house in the lush, densely populated region a burnt-out shell.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the death of Noordin and that of an ally, Malaysian bomb expert Azhari Husin, killed by police on Java in 2005, did not mean the end of the militant threat.

"The crippling of these two terrorists in Southeast Asia does not mean all cells working in Indonesia have all been paralysed," he said.

"That's why we must continue to be vigilant and prepare for steps to tackle, optimally prevent and continue to hunt down terrorist leaders, their networks and prominent fugitives."

Police chief Danuri said forces from an elite unit known as Special Detachment 88 launched the raid after interrogating two Noordin acolytes arrested nearby on Wednesday afternoon.

"Despite repeated warnings to surrender there was a firefight. A motorcycle was hit, caught fire and they took refuge by huddling in the bathroom," Danuri said.