Police confirm authenticity of Azahari's body

Police confirm authenticity of Azahari's body

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police said on Tuesday the physical characteristics of Azahari
bin Husin, which were submitted to them by his family, matched
perfectly with one of two bodies of terrorist suspects killed in
a police raid on their hideout in Malang, East Java.

This confirmed police fingerprint tests that showed that one
of the two bodies belonged to Azahari, one of Asia's most wanted
terrorists who had been blamed for a series of bomb attacks in
Indonesia.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko told journalists
that the family had submitted to his office a total of eight
specific characteristics on Azahari's body that matched the
corpse being kept at the Soekanto Police Hospital in Jakarta.

Earlier, police confirmed that the man who was killed
during the police raid last Wednesday was indeed Azahari
following fingerprint tests.

Police found some 30 wired bombs in the raided house as well
as documents relating to the terror group's activities and plans
for future attacks.

Apart from fingerprint tests, considered to have a level of
accuracy of 99 percent, police are also conducting DNA tests, the
results of which would be available in the next few days.

"Azahari's family has provided several (physical)
characteristics including a surgical scar on the outer side of
his right thigh, uneven teeth on the upper jaw, similar lengths
of the fourth and fifth toes on his left foot, and strong lines
on his right palm," Soenarko said.

Other characteristics, such as straight black hair, glasses,
and moles on the upper left lip, also matched with those of the
corpse.

Although the police have verified the characteristics with
Azahari's body, they have still not decided when Azahari's
younger brother, Bani Yamin bin Husin, would be allowed to see
the body for himself.

Bani Yamin arrived in Jakarta last Sunday in the hope of
identifying Azahari's body and arranging for its repatriation to
Malaysia for burial.

However, he will be required to fulfill a long list of
bureaucratic requirements before he will be permitted to look at
his brother's body.

"We have just received a recommendation letter from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (Tuesday), but we still can't
tell when his brother will be able to see or bring his body home
because we still need the body for further investigation,"
Soenarko said, without elaborating further.

Bombmaker Azahari, along with another key terrorist suspect
Noordin M. Top, have been blamed for masterminding a series of
deadly bombing attacks across the country, including the 2002
Bali blasts and the 2003 JW Marriott Hotel attack in Jakarta.

The two, believed to be key members of the regional terror
network Jamaah Islamiyah, had been on the run for three years,
and had managed to slip through the fingers of police in previous
raids, causing them to become the target of criticism and public
ridicule.

Following the death of Azahari, a massive hunt continues for
Noordin, with police in the country's main island of Java manning
roadblocks and conducting identity checks.