Jatiasih, Indonesia  - An armed standoff outside the suspected rural hideout of a Malaysian-born fugitive militant, Noordin Mohammed Top, entered its second day Saturday.

In a running live report, TV One channel showed police explosive- detection robots entering the house where up to four suspected Islamist militants were believed holed up in the isolated village of Temnaggung district in Central Java.

Police spokesman Nanan Soekarna declined to confirm reports that police believed Noordin was among the occupants of the house in Central Java. He also refused to confirm reports that Noordin had been injured or killed in the gunfights.

In a separate, dramatic anti-terror raid in the capital Jakarta Saturday morning, anti-terror police killed two suspected militants, national police chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters.

Police seized a 100-kilogramme bomb and explosive materials. "It's for a very special target," Danuri said.

Noordin is suspected in the deadly suicide attacks last month on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the capital of Jakarta that killed nine people and wounded 53, and in other terrorist attacks going back to 2003.

Noordin, believed to be the leader of a splinter group of the radical Islamic network Jemaah Islamiah, is also accused of masterminding the 2003 suicide bombing on the same J. W. Marriott hotel, which killed 12 people, and the 2004 attack on the Australian embassy, in which 11 people were killed.

Police have come close to arresting Noordin several times in the past and have captured or killed some of his closest associates during the six-year manhunt.

More than 100 anti-terrorism police armed with automatic weapons have surrounded the house since late Friday afternoon where he is believed to be staying. Heavily-armed anti-terrorism officers were getting ready to enter the house.

Two explosions were heard on Saturday morning, TV One reported.

A TV One reporter said the man believed to be Noordin was seriously injured and hiding a bathroom. Five people, including two brothers were were related to the man who rented the dwelling, were arrested.

In the raid on the house in the outskirts of Jakarta Saturday morning, Danuri said the two militants who were killed were involved in previous bomb attacks. They had tried to attack the police with bombs.

He did not elaborate on what he thought was the target, but Detik. com news website, without quoting sources, said militants may have planned to attack the presidential palace and the private house of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Another man was arrested in the pre-dawn raid of a house in Jatiasih suburb of Bekasi district, just east of Jakarta, suspected as a member of terrorist group. (dpa)