PALU. Nurjannah, the wife of terrorist leader Sabar Subagio A.K.A Awuta Tatra A.K.A Daeng Koro, has confirmed that a body found following a firefight in Parigi Moutong, Central Sulawesi, is that of her husband, after seeing it at Bhayangkara Police Hospital on Sunday.

Nurjannah and her third child, Yausiah, arrived at the hospital on Sunday morning and were straightaway taken to the morgue to see the dead body.

“After Nurjannah saw the dead body, she was sure that it was her husband, Daeng Koro,” Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig.Gen.Idham Azis said on Sunday.

He said Nurjannah confirmed that the body was Daeng Koro, her husband, from several birthmarks and physical features, such as a smallpox injection mark on his arm, his teeth and wound marks on his legs.

Idham said the police were still carrying out a DNA test on the body despite Nurjannah’s confirmation. The police have taken samples of saliva and hair from the body and from his child Yausiah, sending them to the National Police headquarters in Jakarta.

“We expect the result within the next two or three days,” the police chief.

Idham went on to say that the police would hand over Daeng Koro’s body to his family for burial only after residents of Malino village, Soyo Jaya district, Morowali regency, had given their approval for the terrorist leader to be buried there . If approval was not forthcoming, Daeng Koro would be laid to rest in a cemetery in Palu in a burial ceremony held according to his religion, Islam, he said.

Daeng Koro is suspected to have been killed in an armed clash between his group and a joint security team comprising personnel from the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad, the local police’s Mobile Brigade unit and the Parigi Moutong Police in the Pangi mountain range in Sakina Jaya village, North Parigi district, Parigi Moutong regency, Central Sulawesi, on Friday afternoon.

During the armed clash, a number of Daeng Koro’s followers managed to escape. The police confiscated three weapons, two M-16 rifles and one home-made firearm, hundreds of bullets, a map of Central Sulawesi, bombs, general positioning system (GPS) devices, solar cells, mobile phones and several sharp weapons. (Ruslan Sangadji)

Editor: Yudho Winarto