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.