Terror suspect Top isn`t dead: expert

Terrorist leader Noordin Mohammed Top may have cheated death or capture once more
but he's likely to be caught by Indonesian police soon, a leading expert says.
Rohan Gunaratna, head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political
Violence and Terrorism Research, says he's certain the man killed in a violent
counter-terrorism raid on a house in Central Java at the weekend was not Noordin.
"It is not the body of Noordin M Top," Gunaratna told AAP, citing talks with sources
close to the investigation.
"People who have seen Noordin M Top have identified that body as not belonging to him."
His comments came as fingerprint analysis reportedly confirmed that the body is not
that of the Malaysia-born extremist.
Officially, police say they are still waiting on DNA tests to confirm if the body
belongs to Noordin, who they have been hunting for the past six years.
"It's not him. We know from his facial structure as well as his fingerprints," an
unnamed counter-terror police officer said on Monday.
"We're continuing to track his whereabouts."
Noordin, who leads a hardline splinter group of terror outfit Jemaah Islamiah, is
the suspected mastermind of last month's attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton
hotels in Jakarta that killed nine, including three Australians and two bombers.
Authorities believe he was also responsible for a 2003 attack on the Marriott, a
2004 attack on Australia's embassy in Jakarta and the 2005 Bali bombings.
Police have come close to catching him several times but he has always managed to
elude capture.
Nonetheless, Gunaratna believes police will catch him soon.
"Noordin M Top has been the key target of the Indonesian police and intelligence
services since 2003 but not enough effort went into neutralising this target.
"I believe the attacks against the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels last month
will be the catalyst for Indonesia to find him.
"So I believe that in the next few months he will be neutralised."
There is some speculation the mystery body may be that of Noordin's father-in-law,
Central Java preacher Bahrudin Latif, who has also been on the run.
The normally reliable Indonesian news website Detik.com on Monday said police
sources now believed the dead man was Latif, alias Baridin.
"He has Baridin-like characteristics, but we will await DNA results," one unnamed
source was quoted as saying.
It's believed Noordin may have escaped from the farmhouse just hours before police
surrounded it on Friday.