By Teofilo Garcia
ZAMBOANGA CITY, (PNA) — The authorities are now on the process of identifying the recovered remains of slain Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to determine whether or not one of them is Habier Malik.
Malik is the leader of the hundreds of MNLF rebels that infiltrated this city last Sept. 9.
He is the trusted aide of MNLF founding-chair Nur Misuari.
National Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin issued the statement here Saturday after announcing that the standoff is over.
Gazmin and Local Government Sec. Manuel Roxas, II visited Saturday morning Martha Drive in Barangay Sta. Catalina, which was among the sites of fierce gun battle between the troops and MNLF rebels.
“We are still in the process of identifying the bodies through all the test that is required to confirm Malik is one of them,” Gazmin said.
The troops have so far retrieved a total of 100 remains of slain MNLF rebels in two separate places in Martha Drive, Barangay Sta. Catalina since the start of the standoff.
Police records showed that 167 MNLF rebels were killed as of noon Saturday.
Gazmin said the identification process “will take a while” since they are still getting all the records Malik have filed in getting the documents he needed.