Photos of Bali bombing suspects dropped on island

? Police took to the air Saturday to press the search for the suspected masterminds of the Bali terror bombings, using a helicopter to scatter pictures of the fugitives on another island where at least one of the pair was thought to be hiding.

Although they expressed confidence in the first days after the Oct. 1 bombings, Indonesian investigators have not announced any major breakthrough. They have yet to identify the attackers, even after having newspapers publish grisly pictures of the bombers’ severed heads.

The manhunt focused on two of Southeast Asia’s most-sought fugitives – Noordin Mohamed Top and Azahari bin Husin – who are alleged to be the leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, a terror group that wants to establish an Islamic state across the region. Authorities say it has links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

The men are suspected of planning the suicide attack on three packed restaurants on Bali, which killed 23 people, including the bombers, and wounded about 100. They also have been blamed for a bombing that killed 202 in Bali three years ago and other attacks in Indonesia, which is the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

Police said they raided one of Noordin’s hideouts before sunrise Friday but he had slipped away just hours before they stormed the home in central Java province’s Purwantoro district.

On Saturday, a helicopter flew low over the nearby city of Solo and released 10,000 fliers with photographs of Noordin and Azahari and a warning that they are “dangerous terrorists.”

“We hope this can help people recognize them and be aware of them,” said Solo police Maj. Agus Mulyono.

The two fugitives, both Malaysians, have dodged police for years, hiding out in this nation of 220 million people that sprawls over more than 10,000 islands that stretch across 3,000 miles.

“They are probably changing their appearance every second,” said the national police spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sunarko Ardanto.

Other leads being pursued included a phone call made by the wife of another top terror suspect, Zulkarnaen, who goes by one name, said central Java’s police chief, Maj. Gen. Chairul Rasyid. The woman called a number in Bali just days before the attack and police were tracing the call, he said.

The police chief also said investigators felt they were close to identifying two of the three suicide bombers.