Azahari's brother apologizes to victims

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.