NOORDIN Mat Top is wanted - possibly dead or alive! The high-flying man-on-the-run continues to be elusive. Despite a long-running police campaign to catch him, he is still at large, either in hiding or in disguise.

His name resurfaced after a couple of horrific bombings on Friday ripped two luxury hotels in Jakarta and killed nine people. Two of the dead are said to be suicide bombers connected to a terror-group led by Noordin. More than 50 others were injured in the twin blasts.

It had been established that the JW Marriott was hit first, followed by the Ritz-Carlton after two minutes. Some security videos captured the moment of the explosion in the Marriott and investigators are working to get better image quality of CCTV footage to identify the killers.

The Manchester United football team had been booked to stay in the Ritz-Carlton ahead of a game in Jakarta. Following the blasts, however, the team cancelled the Indonesian leg of their Asian tour.

The attacks come just weeks after the peaceful presidential elections.

The republic’s Security Ministru anti-terror desk head Maj Gen Ansyaad Mbai believed the aim of the attacks was to embarrass Indonesia's government at a time when the country was enjoying a greater degree of stability than it had in the past.

Investigators believe Noordin was behind the incidents, considering that the nails, ball bearings and bolts that made up the bombs were identical to the ones used in previous bombings connected to a JI splinter group led by him.

However, no group has claimed responsibility to the blasts to date.

Ansyaad said the devices appeared to be the same as devices discovered at an Islamic boarding school in Central Java last week during a raid on Noordin's suspected hideout.

Mat Top the 'Moneyman'

His Indonesian wife was reportedly among several people arrested in the raid.

"I can't say the attacks were an act of retaliation for the recent arrests, but I can say that the police are getting very close to capturing Noordin," said Ansyaad, a day after the bombings.

Former accountant Noordin, 35, is said to be a recruiting whiz who purportedly excels at collecting money for the group's deadly missions. Thus, he was often referred to as ‘The Moneyman’.

His late sidekick Azahari Husin was the ‘Demolition Man’ for his knowledge of explosives. Both were said to be key figures of the JI group that were linked to several terror raids.

Indonesian police suspected Noordin of talking militants into becoming suicide bombers, using skills he picked up during stints in the southern Philippines.

He and Azahari became Southeast Asia's most wanted fugitives after allegedly masterminding the bombing of a nightclub in Bali in 2002 that took more than 200 lives and the suicide attacks in Jakarta in 2003 and 2004, which left 23 more dead. They were said to be also responsible for the bombings of Bali restaurants in 2005.

In October 2002 a JI leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, was brought to the courts to face charges connected with the Bali nightclub attack. Three years later he was found guilty of conspiracy over the attack and sentenced to 30 months’ prison. He was released four months early in June 2006.

In July 2004, Noordin and Azahari narrowly escaped a police raid on a rented house west of Jakarta, where forensic experts later found traces of explosives similar to that discovered two months later in the bombing of the Australian embassy in the city.

In July 2005, one of their followers, Irun Hidayat was convicted of being an accessory by providing a house to the two men.

Azahari killed in 2005

In October 2005, a Philippine security official said that for months intelligence officials in Southeast Asia had received information that the al-Qaeda-linked JI group was orchestrating a major strike, possibly in the Philippines or Indonesia, but were unable to uncover the plot's details.

In November 2005, Azahari was reportedly killed in a police raid.

In April 2006, Noordin narrowly escaped capture after his house was raided by heavily armed Indonesian police in Central Java, Two terror suspects were killed.

In June of that year, it was reported that Noordin was threatening more attacks in video tapes recovered by Indonesian authorities and police believe he had formed his own JI splinter group.

Hundreds of arrests have been made over the past few years and endless hours of questionings have been carried out but the two continue to evade capature.

Noordin was reported by the US Department of justice to an explosive expert as well as “an officer, recruiter, bomb maker, and trainer for the JI group.”

He and Azahari, both from Johor, were allegedly close associates of JI’s former operational chief, Riduan Isamuddin.

Riduan, better known as Hambali, was captured in Thailand in 2003 and is now in United States custody. The two Malaysians were believed to have taken his mantle even though this remains unconfirmed.

Azahari, 48, studied mechanical engineering in Australia before getting a doctorate in property valuation from a British university in the early 1990s. He is believed to have received bomb-making training in the southern Philippines in 1999 and advanced training in Afghanistan in 2000.

'He is not in Malaysia'

He fled Malaysia, leaving behind his wife and two children, after police uncovered his JI role during a crackdown after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Noordin fled at the same time, and both arrived in Indonesia.

Law enforcers said Friday's carnage proved that Noordin's group was still capable of sophisticated operations despite a major crackdown by Indonesian police on violent extremists over the past decade.

"In the last four years there have been no significant terrorist attacks (in Indonesia) but that doesn't mean the group has stopped," said Ansyaad.

"There are no significant attacks because the police have managed to foil them but the group is consistently plotting activities and preparing to attack."

Besides being hunted by Indonesian law enforcers, Noordin is also being pursued in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, Britain, the United States and who knows where else.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein believes Noordin is not currently in Malaysia, the fugitive’s country of birth.

However, Malaysia is working closely with Indonesia to intensify the manhunt for Noordin.

Queried by the media if Noordin was involved, Hishammuddin said it was not a question of one person being responsible “because terrorism is a global phenomenon which involves a network of people.”