This handout photo released in Manila in August 2006 shows Khadaffy Janjalani, head of the Abu Sayyaf group. (Xinhua/AFP File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

MANILA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine military said on Saturday that the leader of Abu Sayyaf group, Khadaffy Janjalani, was confirmed dead in a clash with the government forces in September last year in Jolo island, Sulu province some 900 km south of Manila.

    Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo immediately hailed the news and said that Philippines is no longer the weak link in fighting against terrorism in the country.

    The chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Hermogenes Esperon, said that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) helped verify the identity of a rotten corpse the military discovered in a makeshift grave in Jolo in December, 2006 through a DNA test conducted with tissue samples taken from an older brother of Janjalani who is in prison.

    The FBI test was witnessed by three officers from the Philippine National Police crime lab, he said, adding "it states that the cadaver recovered on last Dec. 27 is that of Khadaffy Janjalani, the acknowledged leader of the Abu Sayyaf group."

    The latest news added optimism of the government that troops can finish off Abu Sayyaf group and their ally, the Southeast Asian-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), who are active in Sulu and its neighboring provinces of southwestern Mindanao.

    The news confirming Janjalani's death came four days after Philippine troops killed a senior Abu Sayyaf commander, Abu Solaiman, marking a major victory in a U.S.-backed campaign to wipe out the rebels in the south of the archipelago.

    With the help of two arrested Abu Sayyaf members and an informant, the Philippine Marine recovered the skeletal remains of Janjalani in a makeshift grave in the jungles of Patikul, Sulu, which is located 900 km south of Manila.

    The informant told the marines Janjalani was killed in a clash with marine troops on last Sept. 4, which also left six Marine soldiers and an unknown number of other Abu Sayyaf militants dead.

    Janjalani, who was believed to be 31 years old when he was killed, grew up in Isabela City in Basilan, southern Philippines, with his brothers Abubakar Abdurajak and Hector Janjalani.

    Janjalani was on a U.S, list of most wanted terrorists in the world and had 5 million U.S. dollar bounty for his head. He was wanted for a series of beheadings, bombings and abductions.

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