FBI confirmation of Marwan's death shows Mamasapano mission a success -PNP

The Philippine National Police on Thursday said the confirmation of the death of international terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan had affirmed their earlier claims that the mission last January 25 in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao was a successful operation.

"This will only be a validation of what the PNP have been saying all along," PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo said in a text message to GMA News Online. "We have got our man, mission accomplished for Oplan Exodus."

He said this after the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday confirmed the that Marwan was killed in the operation of the PNP-Special Action Force in January.

Cerbo, however, said the PNP has yet to receive an official report of the confirmation.

Meanwhile, also sought for a comment, spokesman Brigadier General Joselito Kakilala said the confirmation of Marwan's death "erased all doubts."

"We are now assured that the notorious JI terrorist had been neutralized and who had victimized numerous innocent civilians in their bomb attacks through the years," he said. "Also,  Marwan's death drastically cut off or degraded the local terrorists' foreign financial, logistical and technical support."

Marwan of the group Jemaah Islamiyah was the main target of the Jan. 25 police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which claimed the lives of 44 Philippine National Police-Special Action Force personnel.
 
The PNP-SAF commandos shot Marwan dead and cut off his finger for DNA analysis and identification, according to a preliminary report of the PNP's Board of Inquiry.

A photo exclusively released earlier to GMA News by a SAF commando from the 84th Seaborne Force showed a bloodied cadaver, said to be that of Marwan, with an index finger missing. -NB, GMA News