Noordin Top Believed Involved in Central Java Shootout

JAKARTA LIFE'S STYLE. A man believed to be most-wanted terrorist Noordin M Top was involved in a shootout in Central Java, according to a media report.

The Al Jazeera television network says it has information from anonymous sources that Noordin was found by authorities and engaged in a gun battle in Temanggung.

According to a Globe source, the shootout was at a house on a hill in the village of Kedu. Three people were inside when the battle started. Two were wounded and their condition is unknown.

Before the shooting police cleared the area, the source said. One of the people inside the house was reported to be a man named Aris.

The shootout is over, the source said, but it is not yet clear whether the people involved were captured.

National Police spokesperson Nanan Sukarna confirmed the shootout. Chief of antiterror desk A Mbai told the Globe that he did not yet have any information about it.

The Malaysian-born bomb expert is wanted in a string of attacks. He is suspected of involvement in the recent Jakarta hotel bombings.

The US FBI believes he was behind the Bali nightclub bombings of 2002 as well as the 2003 Marriott bombing and 2004 Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta.

Top has been on the run for 7 years and is believed to be protected by a highly secretive network of family connections.