Go (coco)nuts! Share this story with your friends.
So, it’s him…right?
“The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that DNA tests indicate one of the United States’ most wanted terrorists, Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as ‘Marwan,’ was likely killed in a raid by the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) in the Philippines on January 25,” reports ABS-CBNnews.com.
David Bowdich, assistant director for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said, “Although the results of the DNA examinations do not provide absolute identification, the results do support that the biological sample provided by Philippine authorities came from Marwan.”
Bowdich said a sample of biological matter gathered from the scene of the operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao and analyzed by the FBI matched that of Marwan’s brother who is in Guantanamo Bay. More tests are being carried out to fully verify the identity of the sample.
The encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan 25 left 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) dead. The PNP-SAF troopers had been out to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Filipino bomb maker Abdulbasit Usman. Both men had bounties on their heads placed by the U.S. government: US$5 million for Marwan and US$1 million for Usman.
The operation turned bloody when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had to fight back because the PNP-SAF had breached their territory. They alleged that they had not been informed about the operation to get Marwan and Usman. The hostile encounter lasted 11 hours. The MILF lost 18 of their fighters.
Both the government and the MILF are doing currently probes on the Mamsapano encounter to determined what went wrong, as the incident threatens the Bangsamoro peace deal.
Photo: News clips
