Azahari's brother apologizes to victims
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The brother of slain terrorist Azahari bin Husin confirmed on Wednesday that the corpse shown to him by police was that of his brother and apologized to his victims and their relatives.
Azahari, a Malaysian citizen who had been on the run for three years, was shot dead last week by police during a raid on his hide-out in Batu, East Java.
"We have known that ... my elder brother was involved in the bombings. Therefore, on behalf of the family, we apologize to all Indonesian people, especially Balinese, either those who were killed or not," said Azahari's younger brother Bani Yamin bin Husin.
"We also apologize to the relatives of the bombing (victims) at the Australian Embassy, as well as the Marriott Hotel, where most of the victims were innocent Indonesian people," Bani was quoted by Associated Press as saying.
Earlier in the day, Bani and Azahari's brother-in-law viewed his corpse at a police hospital, where police said they asked the body be bathed and prayed over in accordance with Islamic tradition before it is repatriated to Malaysia on Thursday.
They said nothing to reporters as they left the hospital after viewing the corpse.
"Since the brother has identified the body, there's no need to conduct DNA tests," said National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko, who accompanied Bani when identifying Azahari's body.
The Malaysian national held a doctorate from a university in Great Britain. He was also believed to be a key member of the al- Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah.
The police have said that a fingerprinting test had proved that one of those killed in the Batu raid was Azahari. But some had previously demanded that the police also carry out a DNA test to quell any doubts.
Accompanied by several police officers, representatives from the Malaysian Embassy and members of the hospital's forensic team, Bani visited the police hospital at around 2:10 p.m. and immediately went to the pathology room where Azahari's corpse was kept.
Soenarko said that Bani remained calm when his brother's corpse was shown to him.
He also said that Bani had requested that Azahari's body should be bathed and prayed over in accordance with Muslim teaching before being sent back to Malaysia.
Soenarko added that both the police and Bani had agreed that the body would be returned to Malaysia on Thursday afternoon.
The death of Azahari has dealt a severe blow to the morale of militant terrorists in the country, but experts warn that the terror threat will not necessarily diminish as other terrorists, including Noordin and his followers, are still at large and could still launch deadly new attacks in the near future, particularly during the upcoming Christmas and New Year festivities.