Wife wants Malaysian burial for slain militant Noordin (Roundup)

Sep 18, 2009, 5:40 GMT

   Kuala Lumpur - The wife of slain Islamic militant Noordin Mohammed Top said she wishes to bury her husband in his homeland of the southern Malaysian state of Johor, the woman's father was quoted as saying in a news report Friday.

   The father-in-law of South-East Asia's most wanted suspected terrorist told the Star newspaper that Noordin's death came as no surprise, adding that his family had lost all contact with him more than eight years ago.

   Noordin, blamed for a string of deadly terrorist attacks in Indonesia since 2003, was killed with three other people Thursday when Indonesian police raided a house in Central Java province.

   'We were always prepared for such an outcome, especially after the last time when he was suspected to have been killed,' Rusdi Hamid, 67, said.

   The man who once called himself the leader of al-Qaeda in the Malay archipelago was initially believed to have been slain in an attack by Indonesian police last month. However, DNA tests later revealed the victim was not Noordin.

   Rusdi, who has fiercely protected the identity of his daughter and her three children, aged 8 to 10, said she wished to bury her husband - a former religious school principle who is believed to have gone into hiding in Indonesia in 2003 - on Malaysian soil.

   'Even after eight years, my daughter still wishes for him to be buried here now that it is confirmed that he was killed,' Rushdi was quoted as saying. 'My daughter and grandchildren had to live without him, but thankfully, they are used to the situation.'

   'We will carry on without him,' he said.

   Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he was 'sad' at the news of Noordin's death while acknowledging Noordin was responsible for countless innocent deaths.

   'What he did was wrong,' the minister was quoted as saying by the Star. 'We don't condone what he did. I am sad that we did not get to rehabilitate him like we have done with many others.

   'I am sad because a life is a life.'

   Among the attacks Noordin was accused of was Indonesia's latest, the July 17 bombings of two Jakarta luxury hotels, which killed nine people.

   Terrorism experts said Noordin was a key financier and recruiter for the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group, blamed for attacks in Indonesia from 2000 to 2003 that killed hundreds of people, including the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. He later formed his own, more violent organization after disagreements with more moderate militants within Jemaah Islamiyah.