A hospital belonging to the Indonesian Police on Friday performed an autopsy of two dead bodies believed to be top terrorist Azahari Husin and his operative Arman, who were killed in a shoot-out earlier Wednesday.

The two bodies arrived at the hospital at noon and were immediately sent to the autopsy room for formal identification process, including fingerprinting and dental records identification.

In the East Java town of Malang, national detective chief Makbul Padmanegara said earlier that fingerprinting has confirmed that one of the bodies was Azahari, a bomb expert of the shadowy terror group Jemaah Islamiyah who had masterminded a string of deadly bombings in Indonesia since October 2002.

Makbul said fingerprinting is a very reliable method of identification although a further DNA test might be needed.

Commenting on another dead body, Makbul said a DNA test is necessary to prove that the body was Arman.

"We don't have records of Arman's fingerprints. He differs from Azahari in this respect," Makbul was quoted by the Detikcom online news service as saying.

The officer declined to elaborate detailed information about Arman and what role he had played in the militant group.

Source: Xinhua