WASHINGTON – DNA tests indicate one of the United States’ “most wanted terrorists,” Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, was possibly killed in a raid by police in the Philippines last week, the FBI said on Wednesday.
The results of the tests conducted by the FBI “do not provide absolute identification,” said David Bowdich, assistant director for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
Bowdich said a sample of biological matter gathered from the scene of the Jan. 25 raid and analyzed by the FBI resembles bin Hir’s DNA. Further tests are being carried out to fully verify the identity of the sample.
The FBI had offered $5 million for the arrest of bin Hir, a Malaysian member of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant group behind numerous bombing attacks in the Philippines.
The raid to arrest bin Hir and another militant went awry, and 44 police were killed.
The FBI said it had no prior knowledge of the raid.
The clash shattered a three-year ceasefire between Philippines police and Muslim rebels in the south of the country.
