Malaysia wants militant leader Noordin's body

The family of Malaysian-born terror suspect Noordin Muhammed Top and the Malaysian government say they want to bring his body back from Indonesia to be buried in his native land following his death in special forces raid.

The alleged terror mastermind was killed in a raid Thursday on a hide-out in Indonesia, where Noordin has made his base for several years and was blamed for a string of deadly attacks. He was one of Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorism suspects and allegedly had links to al-Qaida.

Noordin's father-in-law, Rusdi Hamid, was quoted by local media as saying he would fly to Jakarta on Friday to identify his son's body. He said Noordin's wife wished for him to be buried in their village in southern Malaysia even though he had not been in touch with his family for eight years.

"Even after eight years, my daughter still wished for him to be buried here now that it is confirmed that he was killed," the 67-year-old trader was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying.

"Although he had left her for almost eight years, as a wife, she is sad upon hearing the news," the New Straits Times quoted him.

Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said late Thursday that the government is in touch with Indonesia on repatriating Noordin's body once Indonesian authorities have finished identification tests.

"We will, together with his family, arrange to bring his body back here ... hopefully after they have completed all the investigations," he said.

He said he regrets that Malaysia was not able to reform Noordin before he fled the country.

"I am sad that we were unable to rehabilitate him, that we did not have a chance to change his ... thinking ... and that he had to end up this way. But what he did was wrong. We could not condone it," he said.

Noordin is alleged to have orchestrated twin suicide attacks at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta on July 17 that left seven people dead and more than 50 others injured.

Hishammuddin said the Malaysian government played no role in Thursday's police raid on a hide-out in Solo town in central Indonesia, where Noordin and three other suspected militants were killed.

According to Indonesian national police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri, fingerprints in a police database matched the body to Noordin.

Earlier this year, the New Straits Times newspaper quoted Rusdi as saying Noordin left his wife, a Quran recital teacher, and three children, aged 8, 9 and 10, "without saying a word."

"My son-in-law is more of a problem than anything else," he was quoted as saying. "Even if he is dead, it would not leave an impact on the family."