SHAH ALAM - MONGOLIAN Altantuya Shaariibuu may have been alive when explosives were used to blow her up, the High Court heard on Thursday.

In revealing the post-mortem report, the forensics head at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, testified that the woman's death was due to probable blast-related injuries. This suggested that she may have been alive when she was blown up.

Dr Shah was testifying at the trial of Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 37, who are charged with murdering Ms Altantuya, 28, in Bukit Raja between 10pm on Oct 19, 2006 and 11am the following day.

Parts of her blown-up body were found in a jungle in Bukit Raja near Shah Alam in November.

Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, 48, who has close links to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, is charged with abetting them.

Testifying on day 94 of the hearing, Dr Shah said the conclusion was drawn after reviewing radiology and dental reports on the remains and after consultations with industry experts.

He said the use of the word 'probable' meant that it was more than possible that Ms Altantuya died because of the blast, the New Straits Times reported.

'The skull was not recovered, although there were fragments of it,' he told deputy public prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.

'Four bone samples were tested for explosive residue and six more for DNA. When we (together with forensic anthropologist Dr Nurliza Abdullah) pieced the remains together, the bones were not enough to form a complete human skeleton.'

Dr Shah, the trial's 70th witness, had visited the crime scene between Puncak Alam and Puncak Perdana twice.

'There were white spots on her bones after they were X-rayed, indicating that they may be explosives' residue,' he said.

In his testimony on Wednesday, Dr Shah said that Ms Altantuya may have also been naked at the time of the incident, as no traces of fibre were found at the scene.

All the bone fragments were handed to him by investigating officer Assistant Superintendent Tonny Lunggan at the mortuary of the HKL forensics department.

Dr Shah said ASP Lunggan gave him 34 packets of exhibits for analysis.

Hearing before trial judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin will continue on March 17.