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The raid on Tuesday that led to the death of a high-profile terrorist was simply all in a day’s work for the country’s law-enforcement officials. 

This was the National Police’s response after it refused to accept the $10 million being offered by the US government as reward for the death of Al Qaeda-trained terrorist Dulmatin. 

“I would like to stress that we were only doing our job and were not thinking about any reward, especially the $10 million,” National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said at a news conference on Wednesday. “This was just part of what we were sworn to do, ridding our country of terrorists.” 

Dulmatin was believed to have been a bomb specialist linked to Al Qaeda and one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings as well as several other attacks. 

The hefty sum placed on Dulmatin’s head underscored his importance to the US government, particularly the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. He was described on the Rewards for Justice Web site as an electronics expert who trained at Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a senior official of Jemaah Islamiyah, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Southeast Asia. 

Bambang said the raid conducted in Tangerang was done with the help of a number of concerned groups, but he added that their job was not finished. 

“Police are still hunting other big-name terrorists in a number of areas,” Bambang said. 

Two of those names are Umar Patek and Zulkarnaen. Umar is suspected of being a JI member and having taken part in the 2002 Bali bombings as an assistant field coordinator. Zulkarnaen has been linked to the Bali attacks and the JW Marriott Hotel blast in 2003. 

The reward offered for the capture or death of Dulmatin is equivalent to that for Mullah Omar, leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime. The bounty for the world’s public enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden, is $25 million. 

The US government calls the reward system one of its “most valuable assets” in the fight against international terrorism, a system where cash incentives are offered for “information that prevents or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against US persons or property worldwide.” 



JG