LEAD: Malaysia to seek return of body of slain terror suspect

Feb 3, 2012, 11:10 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia is to seek the return of the body of a suspected Malaysian terrorist who was allegedly killed during an airstrike in the southern Philippines, a senior official said Friday.

Minister of Home Affairs Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said Malaysian police were coordinating with their Philippine counterparts to help verify if Zulkifli Abdul Hir was in fact among the 15 Muslim militants killed in Thursday's airstrike on Jolo Island.

Hishammuddin said the police would arrange for the return of the body to Malaysia for burial, if it is confirmed to be the remains of 46-year-old Zulkifli, also known as Marwan.

Hishammuddin added Malaysian police were also awaiting confirmation on the killing of two more Malaysian militants, Bacho and Jeknal Adil, who were allegedly with the same group of Abu Sayyaf rebels during the attack.

Marwan's mother Aminah Abdul Aziz, 64, earlier pleaded to Malaysia and the Philippine governments to help return the body of her son for a proper burial.

Marwan was an engineer who worked in a telecommunications company in Kuala Lumpur before he became a leader of the Indonesia-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah in 2000. He had a wife and three children.

The United States had offered a 5-million-dollar bounty for his capture for his alleged involvement in terrorist attacks in Asia, including the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed more than 200 people.

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