JAKARTA, 20 January 2006 - In less than 24 hours, Indonesian anti-terrorism police detained two terrorist suspects and close aides to the country's most-wanted militant, Malaysian Noordin Mohammad Top, local media reports said Thursday. After detaining an Indonesian militant on Wednesday afternoon, the anti-terrorist squad on Thursday morning arrested another Muslim radical in Central Java province, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

The most recently captured militant, identified as Abu Sayap, was arrested in the Karanganyar district of Central Java, where police also seized a revolver and 30 rounds of various kinds of ammunition, including M-16 bullets belonging to the suspect. The first suspect, named Subur Sugiarto, alias Abu Mujahid, 35, was arrested in the Central Java district of Boyolali on Wednesday afternoon aboard a public bus.

Police accused both Sayap and Sugiarto of being close associates of the fugitive Malaysian terror suspect. Sugiarto was accused of hiding Noordin, a senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) - a regional terrorist network linked to al-Qaeda. Noordin has been blamed for helping mastermind a string of bombings in recent years in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali nightclub attacks that killed 202 people, mainly foreign tourists.

Indonesian police stepped up the hunt for Noordin after fellow Malaysian bomb-maker Azahari bin Husin was killed in a police raid on his hideout in the East Java district of Malang in November. Less than two weeks ago, the Indonesian anti-terror squad, together with central Java police authorities, captured four other suspects allegedly involved in the terrorist network led by Noordin.

Police say they almost caught Noordin hours before the November raid and he is believed to be still in the country. Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, has been hit by a string of bomb attacks since 2000 that have often been linked to Islamic militant groups affiliated with JI.

Scores of alleged JI members been arrested in Indonesia for the alleged involvement in the attacks, and at least four Indonesian Muslim militants and alleged members of JI have been sentenced to death for their roles in the October 2002 Bali attacks, as well as the September 2004 Australian embassy bombing. Dozens of others have been sentenced to between three years and life imprisonment.

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