By Amy Chew

NOORDIN Mohammad Top's body will be brought back to Malaysia after Hari Raya Aidilfitri to be buried at his birth place in Pontian, Johor.

Noordin's brother, a Johor-based reporter for a national newspaper, was scheduled to fly to Jakarta to collect his body sometime next week, a senior Malaysian police official told the New Straits Times.

"The body will be released to his family on the Sept 23 or 24 after a post-mortem," the officer added.

Noordin's identity was confirmed through DNA and fingerprint tests.

"Noordin's brother will also be reconfirming the identity of the body so that it leaves no doubt in the public's mind that it is truly Noordin," said the officer.

Indonesian police found a Baretta pistol, an M16 and 200kg of bomb-making material in Noordin's hide-out.

"The Beretta pistol belonged to Noordin, which is his weapon of choice," said the officer.

The officer said Noordin's death would weaken, but not end the threat of terrorism as terror cells and Islamic militants will never give up their fight to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia.

"They (militants) will now focus on rebuilding themselves through preaching and spreading militancy. We have to address the root causes of radicalism," the officer added.

--New Straits Times