MANILA — A botched police raid in the Philippines in January that led to a public outcry and jeopardized a peace deal with rebels was successful in killing one of Southeast Asia’s most notorious militants, according to the F.B.I., which said it had removed the man from its list of most-wanted terrorists.
David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles field office, said in a statement on Wednesday that a “thorough review of forensic data” and information from Philippine law enforcement officials had confirmed the death of Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian also known as Marwan, in the , in which dozens of Philippine police officers were also killed.
The United States government had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. Zulkifli, who was alleged by the United States to have been a bomb-making expert and a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network. Philippine officials said Mr. Zulkifli was responsible for dozens of bombings over the past decade that killed hundreds of people on the restive southern island of Mindanao.
Mr. Zulkifli’s death came after about 400 police officers crept into position around a grass hut in the remote southern Philippine town of Mamasapano, where they had learned that the fugitive was hiding. The police surprised Mr. Zulkifli, shooting him in the chest, but they were unable to retrieve his body because of incoming gunfire from nearby rebels; however, officers cut a finger from his body and took photographs in an attempt to verify his death. The F.B.I. compared the DNA from the finger with that of a relative of Mr. Zulkifli’s who is in custody in the United States.
Another fugitive, Abdul Basit Usman, a Filipino bomb-making expert for whom the F.B.I. is , was in a nearby hut but escaped, according to the Philippine police.
The January raid, which also killed 17 rebels and three civilians, was followed by over the large number of police casualties and harsh criticism of President and one of his administration’s signature achievements, the peace deal with Islamic rebels. Some Philippine lawmakers have called for the deal to be halted, delayed or significantly changed.
The , which signed a peace agreement with the government a year ago, was involved in the firefight with the police during the raid, though the group’s leader later said that its fighters had been caught off-guard and fired on the police in self-defense. The group said Mr. Zulkifli’s hut was about two miles from their nearest base camp, in an area controlled by a smaller, breakaway rebel group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Several conducted after the raid found that the police had failed to coordinate with the Philippine military, which had access to aircraft, artillery and other equipment that could have helped rescue officers who were pinned down during gun battles.
In February, the Philippine military launched an offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that officials say killed about half of the splinter group’s 300 fighters. It was also reported to have driven more than 120,000 civilians into shelters to avoid the fighting. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is struggling to salvage its peace deal with the government, assisted in the military operations, according to rebel leaders.
Philippine military officials have incorrectly reported Mr. Zulkifli’s death in the past. Military officials said in February 2012 that he was killed by an airstrike, but Mr. Zulkifli was later found operating in another area of the southern Philippines.