NOORDIN TOP'S BODY TO BE RETURNED TO MALAYSIA FRIDAY

Jakarta, Oct 1 (ANTARA) - The family of dead terror mastermind Noordin M Top will take his body to Malaysia on Friday (Oct 2), a palice spokesman said.
Two members of Noordin's family - his wife Siti Rahmah and brother Yahya - arrived in Jakarta on Thursday but they would receive his body for transportation to Malaysia on Friday, Senior Commissioner Zulkarnaen Adinegara of the National Police Headquarters' public relations division, said here Thursday.

"This decision is based on Noordin's family request," said Zulkarnaen after accompanying the chief of the police's Detachment 88 anti-terror unit, Brig Gen Saud Usman Nasution, in receiving the two members of Noordin's family.

Noordin's wife, Siti Rahmah, his elder brother, Yahya M Top, and three Malaysian police officers came to the National Police Headquarters to discuss the process of repatriating Noordin's body.

"They also want to come to the Police Hospital to see Noordin's body before taking it to Malaysia on Friday. They seem to need time to prepare for repatriation, including finding a flight which can carry the body to Malaysia," Zulkarnanen said.

Noordin was shot dead in a police raid in Solo, Central Java, last September 17.

Although Noordin had changed his appearance by growing a thick beard, police were able to identify him by comparing fingerprints and conducting DNA tests.

Noordin M Top and another top terrorist, Dr Azahari (both Malaysian nationals) were believed to have masterminded the Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta on August 5, 2003 which killed 12 people, and injured 147 others.

They, as terror coordinators of the Al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian branch of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network, were also believed to have been behind a series of major terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including the Bali bombings in 2002, a deadly blast at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004, and bombings in Bali in October 2005 that killed more than 220 people, including a number of Australian tourists.

Dr Azahari was killed in a police raid in Malang, East Java, in November 2005.