Yudhoyono announced the death of terrorist Dulmatin during a visit to Australia. The Bali bombings killed 202 people.
"I can announce to you that, after a successful police raid against the terrorists hiding out in Jakarta yesterday, we can confirm that one of those that was killed was Mr. Dulmatin, one of the top southeast Asian terrorists that we have been looking for," Yudhoyono said.
Dulmatin had several aliases, including Joko Pitoyo. He was an electronics specialist who trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and had a $10 million bounty on his head, according to the U.S. State Department.
He was a senior member of the al Qaeda-linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah.
Indonesian media had been reporting that Dulmatin was killed in a shootout during a raid in Pamulang, Banten province, on Tuesday.
The raid, which happened on the outskirts of Jakarta, was linked to ongoing security sweeps in Aceh province in northern Sumatra. Police have arrested at least 15 suspected militants and one was killed. Three police officers have died in the raids.
Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf said that, for a year now, he has known about a militant training camp in Aceh. He said militants were seeking to establish camps similar to those run by Jemaah Islamiyah in the the southern Philippines.
The group has a stated goal of creating an idealized Islamic state comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines and southern Thailand, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a public policy Web site that provides background on defense issues.
Yusuf told reporters that militants chose Aceh because it is a predominantly Muslim province that imposes shariah, or Islamic, law and because a rebellion -- the Free Aceh Movement -- had taken root there.
Indonesia's current anti-terrorism efforts come as President Barack Obama is about to visit the world's most-populous Muslim nation.
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