One of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists is believed to be dead following a raid in the Philippines last week, Reuters reports.
The FBI collected body matter at the scene of the deadly raid, and a DNA sample shows a strong link to Zulkifli bin Hir.
Still, the tests don’t prove with certainty that the body matter belonged to Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian member of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant group behind numerous bombing attacks in the Philippines.
The decision to conduct the raid to capture bin Hir was a costly one, ending in the deaths of 44 police commandos and undoing a three-year ceasefire with Muslim rebels.
Authorities also believed they killed bin Hir three years ago in an air strike, but he emerged to the surprise of the U.S.
