MINISTERS, TNI, POLICE CHIEFS CHECK TERRORISTS' BODIES IN HOSPITAL

Jakarta, Sept. 17 (ANTARA) - National Defense Forces (TNI) Chief General Joko Santoso and Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri, visited the Police Hospital in east Jakarta on Thursday to check the bodies of suspected terrorists killed in a police shootout in Solo earlier today.

They were accompanied also by Transportation Minister Djusman Safei Jamal and Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto, and were tightly guarded by military and police personnel.

Director of the Kramat Jati Police Hospital Brigadier General Aidy Rawas led the four high ranking officials during their visit at the hospital.

The bodies of the four suspected terrorists arrived at the hospital at around 12.41 am local time, from Solo, Central Java, where the shootout occurred.

Four people were killed in the skirmish between police and suspected terrorists at Kepoh Sari kampong, Mojosongo, Surakarta, Central Java, early Thursday.

A police source said, after the shootout, police found four bodies inside the rented house whose main tenant was a man named Susilo.

The dead bodies belonged to Susilo or Adib, Bagus Budi Pranoto alias Urwah, another man and an unidentified female.

The bodies were later taken away by an ambulance which stood by near the shooting site.

Police reportedly also tried to defuse an active bomb at the location.

In the shootout, the rented house of Susilo was seriously damaged. Police put a police line around it and did not allow any body to approach the house. The house was still tightly guarded by the police on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, last August 18, 2009, the Indonesian police's anti-terror unit Densus-88 raided at least two locations in their intensified hunt of terrorists, following the bomb blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July 17, 2008.

At least three terrorists were believed to have been killed, and one was reportedly arrested, in the raids in Jatiasih, Bekasi, West Java, and Temanggung District, Central Java, last August.

The Indonesian government was determined to intensify efforts to find Noordin M Top following the bombings of two hotels in the Mega Kuningan area in Jakarta last July 17, 2009, which killed nine people and injured 53 others.

Based on the findings and modus operandi of the bomb blasts, Noordin M Top and his network were suspected to have been behind the bombings.

Azahari Husin and Noordin M Top, both Malaysian nationals, were believed to have also masterminded the Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta on August 5, 2003 which killed 12 people, and injured 147 others. Azahari was killed in a police raid in East Java in November 2005 but Noording M Top who was with him, was able to escape.