Indonesia seeks to bring home Al-Ghozi's remains home

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Madiun

The Indonesian government has confirmed the death of escaped bombmaker Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi and will seek the possibility of bringing his remains home, at the request of his family.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Monday an Indonesian consulate staffer in Davao had traveled to General Santos City to confirm the identity of the body.

"We have contacted his family, and we hope there will be no problems in bringing his remains back to Indonesia, as requested by his family," Hassan said.

Speaking after accompanying President Megawati Soekarnoputri to her meeting with visiting Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Hassan said there should be no reason for the Philippines to keep Al-Ghozi's remains.

The government, he said, would cover expenses incurred in transporting the body to Indonesia, if the Philippines granted the request.

Al-Ghozi's mother, Rukana, said on Monday that she wanted the remains of her son to be brought home and buried in his hometown of Mojorejo village, Madiun, East Java.

"If he is dead, I want him to be buried here," Rukana said, showing no signs of grief or remorse.

The Philippine National Police Chief Hermogenes Ebdane said Al-Ghozi was killed in a brief shoot-out near the town of Pigkawayan, Cotabato province, late on Sunday in a raid launched after a tip-off from an informer.

Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying that fingerprints taken from the dead man matched those in police files.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Al-Ghozi's death should serve as a warning to terror groups that they would not find sanctuary in the Philippines.

"The death of Al-Ghozi signals that terrorists will never get far in the Philippines, and that the long arm of the law will eventually get them," Arroyo said in a statement.

"This event should lift much of the anxieties of our people," National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said. "It's a major triumph of the world against international terrorism. It shows the resoluteness of (President Gloria Arroyo) in her campaign against terrorism."

Al-Ghozi was sentenced to 17 years in jail in Manila for illegal possession of explosives last year. He was said to be one of the major operative of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which is on the United Nations' list of terrorist groups.

He escaped from a jail inside the Manila police headquarters in July, along with two Filipino Muslim militants. Security authorities from both countries had been working together to recapture him.

Many countries praised the shooting of Al-Ghozi, saying it would further encourage the global fight against terrorism and ensure the safety of the planned visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to Manila later this month.

Asked whether Indonesia was pleased with the shooting of Al- Ghozi, Hassan replied, "As Muslims, we never welcome a death with joy. We simply say that those who come from God will return to God."

Rukana, meanwhile, said she believed her son had died as a martyr of his religion.

"I believe he died because he fought for his faith. This is jihad," she said.

She said she heard the news of her son's death on television before a government official called with the news. An official at the Indonesian embassy in Manila also notified her of his death.

"I asked him whether it was possible to bring (my son's) body home, and he said he would try his best," Rukana said.