JAKARTA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The most prominent face of militant Islam in Indonesia, the Laskar Jihad, has closed its headquarters and disbanded, according to media reports and military sources on Tuesday.

The official Antara news agency said the group's headquarters in Yogyakarta in central Java had been shuttered and "all activities are stopped". Metro Television, a Jakarta broadcaster, said the group had been disbanded.

It was not clear whether there was any connection between the reported closure and the weekend bombings in Bali that killed 181 people, or whether it foreshadowed a crackdown on radical Muslim groups in the aftermath of those attacks.

Laskar Jihad sent thousands of fighters to the Moluccas islands in 2000 to help Muslims fight Christians during vicious bouts of communal violence.

A military source in Yogyakarta said the group believed its mission in the Moluccas had been completed. "It's their decision to disband themselves," he said.