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Indonesia's top militant killed: military

Mohammad TaufanAAP
Indonesian security forces are searching for four more East Indonesia Mujahideen members.
Camera IconIndonesian security forces are searching for four more East Indonesia Mujahideen members. Credit: AAP

Indonesia's most wanted militant has been killed in a gunbattle with security forces, the military says, in a victory for the counterterrorism campaign against extremists in the jungles of Sulawesi island.

Ali Kalora was one of two militants killed in the shoot-out, said Central Sulawesi's regional military chief Brigadier General Farid Makruf.

He identified the other suspected extremist as Jaka Ramadan.

The two men were fatally shot during a raid late on Saturday by a joint team of military and police officers in Central Sulawesi province's mountainous Parigi Moutong district, Makruf said.

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It borders Poso district, considered an extremist hotbed in the province.

"Ali Kalora was the most wanted terrorist and leader of MIT," Makruf said, referring to the Indonesian acronym of the East Indonesia Mujahideen network.

He said that security forces were searching for the four remaining members of the group.

The East Indonesia Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for several killings of police officers and minority Christians.

Security operations in Central Sulawesi have intensified in recent months to try to capture members of the network, particularly targeting Kalora, the group's leader.

The network pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2014.

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