GOVERNMENT forces have exhumed last Monday
the alleged remains of Dulmatin, leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah
cell of terrorists operating in the Philippines, in Panglima
Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi, a military official said yesterday.
Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino
said the military will run DNA tests on the remains, in
coordination with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, to
determine if they indeed belong to Dulmatin.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon
said they do not want to be "very excited" but there is high
probability that the cadaver could be Dulmatin's, based on the
troops involved and the informant.
He said people from the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation are already in the country to jointly conduct with
police the DNA test that would involve comparing tissue samples
taken from the cadaver with those of Dulmatin's children from
whom DNA samples were taken earlier.
Dulmatin's children and his wife were found
by authorities in Simulul Island in Tawi-Tawi in May 2007 and
subsequently deported back to Indonesia.
Esperon said the informant was a recruit of
the Jemaah Islamiyah who was actually at the scene of the
assault by the counter-terrorist Light Reaction Company and
Naval Special Operation Group against an alleged JI safehouse
last Jan. 31. That assault killed two elite soldiers, four ASG
terrorists and eight civilians.
Dolorfino said their informant told them
Dulmatin was hit in the head, chest and right foot, confirming
initial reports from their units in Tawi-Tawi that the
bomb-maker had been wounded in the Jan. 31 encounter. He said
initial examination of the body dug up from a grave in Sitio
Salisit pointed out by the informant seemed to confirm these
details.
Dulmatin who sports only one name is the
purported mastermind of the Bali, Indonesia bombing in 2002 that
left 200 dead.
Dolorfino said that if the remains turn out
to be Dulmatin's, their informant can stake a claim to the $10
million bounty placed on the terrorist's head by the United
States government. He said the Abu Sayyaf would also feel the
loss. "This is a big blow to them, he is the most prized
personality in the Abu Sayyaf Group and JI," he said.
Two other JI leaders, Omar Patek and Zulkifli bin Hir, alias
Marwan, are believed to be still hiding out in Mindanao. Both
have a $1 million and $5 million bounty, respectively, on their
heads. - Victor Reyes
