By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
One of Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorists escaped capture when security forces launched a pre-dawn raid on his hideout Saturday, killing two operatives and arresting three others, police said.
Noordin Top, regarded as a key leader of the al-Qaida-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, fled before heavily armed police arrived at his safe house before dawn, police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bahrul Alam told El Shinta radio.
Authorities started staking out the location in Binangun, a village in Central Java, three months ago, "but when they launched their raid at around 3 a.m., he was gone," Alam said, as he headed to the scene by helicopter from the capital, Jakarta.