In July 2004, Azahari and Noordin narrowly escaped a police raid on a rented house west of Jakarta, where forensic experts later found traces of explosives used in the embassy bombing.

Neighbours described both as reclusive men who left the property only to pray at a nearby mosque; and they said that before the bombing, they saw the duo loading heavy boxes into a white delivery van which is the same type used in that attack.

[2] Both men were close associates of Jemaah Islamiyah's former operational chief, Riduan Isamuddin (better known as Hambali), who was captured in Thailand in 2003.

They conducted a raid on one of his hideouts in Batu, East Java with Detachment 88 operators sent to assist regular police officers.

Three suspected jihadist terrorists barricaded themselves inside a house and they put up stiff resistance, throwing grenades and firing bullets at the police outside.