teroris

noordin mohammed top. does this name ring any bells?
(i really don't know how much of this yall hear about in america.)

he is from malaysia.
he now lives in indonesia.
he is a genius.
he is a criminal mastermind.
he is a terrorist.
he is indonesia's most wanted man.

he was formerly a part of jemaah islamaiah, the southeast asian faction of al-qaeda.
but he broke away to start a more violent terrorist group.
he was behind the bali bombings.
he was behind the bombing of the australian embassy in 2004.
he was behind the bombing of the jakarta marriott in 2003.
and he was behind the bombings 2 weeks ago.

yesterday morning, we got word that he had been killed.
there was a 17 hour gunfight at a terrorist safehouse about 1 hour from my house.

after the smoke cleared, the police found 600 kg (a little more than half a ton) of bomb making materials in the house. (there seems to be some conflict in the reports i've heard as to whether the materials were found in this house or in another house near jakarta.)
these bombs were to be detonated next week, 17 august 2009.
indonesian independence day.
(fireworks?)
100 kg were going to the president's house.
the other 500 to the presidential palace.
they clearly want him out of the picture.

i was glad to hear that the plan was thwarted.
i was even more glad to hear that noordin was no more.
they estimate that he is responsible for about 250 innocent deaths.

but then last night, we got word that it wasn't him after all.
during the gunfight, he escaped.

i hadn't realized how relieved i was that he was dead.
until i found out that he wasn't.
and then i felt a little guilty.
i don't think i've ever wanted someone dead before.
but indonesia isn't safe as long as he is alive.

the body of whoever they mangled in the gunfight is now in jakarta for testing.
we'll know for sure in a week.
but as for now, they're telling us it wasn't him.

An interesting news article regarding all this: http://www.smh.com.au/world/reports-of-escape-add-to-growing-legend-20090809-ee5w.html