Noordin's death has been widely reported in local media but since the dead man's remains have been moved to Jakarta for DNA testing, serious doubts are emerging about whether he is the terrorist.

Indonesian police were acting on information that Noordin was using the raided house as a refuge, but there are fears that intelligence may have been incorrect.

It is now not clear whether he was ever in the house, whether he got away yet again, or may have even been secretly captured.

Indonesian anti-terrorism sources had believed the dead man was Noordin, but now the same sources believe they were wrong.

Officially, Indonesian police have refused to confirm the widespread local reports of his death, saying that only the DNA tests in Jakarta could confirm the identity.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri has confirmed that two men killed in a raid on a house used as a base by Noordin in Bekasi, near Jakarta, were intending to carry-out a truck-bomb attack on the nearby home of Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The planned attack was allegedly because of his decision last year to endorse the executions of the three Bali bombers.