Azahari's brother confirms brother's identity, remains to be buried in Malaysia

Eva C. Komandjaja The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The brother of slain terrorist Azahari bin Husin has confirmed that the corpse shown to him by police was that of his brother, and says he now plans to bring it back to Malaysia on Thursday for burial.

Bani Yamin bin Husin, who arrived here on Sunday to identify the body and make arrangements for its repatriation, came to the Soekanto Police Hospital on Wednesday after obtaining permission from National Police chief Gen. Sutanto.

He declined to speak to reporters.

"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.

Azahari and a local operative were killed last week during a raid on his last hiding place in Batu, East Java. The bomb-maker, together with his compatriot Noordin M. Top, has been accused of masterminding a series of deadly bomb attacks around the country over the past three years -- the latest of which was the Oct. 1 Bali bomb blasts that killed 23 people. Noordin remains at large after he managed to escape a police raid in Semarang, Central Java, last week.

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.