ZAMBOANGA CITY—Forensic experts of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Police have taken samples of body tissues for deoxyribonucleic acid tests to determine if the body that was exhumed on Monday in Tawi-Tawi is that of Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI)  bomber Dulmatin, a military official said.

Maj. Eugenio Batara, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) information officer, said the results will be known, hopefully, within a week.

“If it turns out later that the body was really that of Dulmatin, then the Abu Sayyaf Group and Jema’ah Islamiyah suffered a serious blow,” Batara said.

The body was recovered on Monday afternoon in Bato-Bato, Tawi-Tawi, by combined personnel from the Naval Forces Western Mindanao, military intelligence and the police.

“The shallow grave was reported by the lot owner who found out earlier that somebody had buried a body in the area. With the help of barangay officials, the matter was reported to the nearest military station,” Batara said.

The body was shipped to this city for identification.

Security forces in pursuit of the killers of Oblates of Mary Immaculate priest, Jesus Reynaldo Roda and captors of Notre Dame teacher Omar Taup clashed with the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf on January 31 in Lubbok, Panglima Sugala, Tawi-Tawi.

The military earlier monitored that Dulamtin suffered gunshot wounds in his right chest and left ankle, and shrapnel wounds in his right eyebrow and right cheek during the January 31 clash, but was able to escape.

Alfa Moha, 28, a former member of Dulmatin’s group, on Tuesday disclosed that Dulmatin, who they call as Bin, was indeed wounded in the Lubbok clash.

He even pointed to the picture of Dulmatin on the government’s wanted posters when ask to identify who was the man whom he saw wounded in the January 31 clash.

However, Moha said he could not say if Dulmatin died owing to his wounds, because they separated after the gun battle. 

Moha said he was with Dulmatin’s group for 25 days before he decided to part ways with the group.

Moha said he decided to disengage from Dulmatin’s group when he realized that the group is not doing good things just after the encounter in Lubbok.

He surrendered to government forces in Tawi-Tawi on February 14, Batara said.

Dulmatin, whose name is Amar Usman, and another JI operative, Umar Patek, were tagged as the masterminds in the 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people, mostly tourists.

Batara said that initial inspection of the cadaver shows the signs of gunshot wounds.

After tissue samples were taken, the Westmincom chief, Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, ordered decent burial for the body.

The body was buried Tuesday afternoon in a Muslim cemetery at barangay Sinunuc, east of this city, following Muslim rites at the Wesmincom’s mosque.

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ZAMBOANGA CITY—Forensic experts of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Police have taken samples of body tissues for deoxyribonucleic acid tests to determine if the body that was exhumed on Monday in Tawi-Tawi is that of Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI)  bomber Dulmatin, a military official said.

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