Philippines says may have found Bali bomber's body

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine military has exhumed what it believes is the body of Dulmatin, an Indonesian militant wanted for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people.

"His body was recovered yesterday afternoon," Major General Ben Dolorfino, the marine commandant, said on Tuesday. "We are conducting DNA tests to confirm."

Dolorfino said an informant led them to the body, which was dug up in Tawi-tawi, the southernmost tip of the Philippine archipelago.

Dulmatin, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, has eluded the Philippine military and their U.S. advisors for years, although security forces found his wife in 2006 and their children the following year in a rebel hideout in the Philippine south. They have since been deported to Indonesia.

Washington has offered a $10 million bounty for Dulmatin, a leading member of Jemaah Islamiah, a regional militant network blamed for a series of bombings in Indonesia.

Dulmatin was believed to have fled to the southern Philippines in 2003 with Umar Patek, another JI member, after both were implicated in the Bali blasts, which killed mainly Australian tourists holidaying on the resort island.

Dulmatin was reported injured in a clash with the military on January 31 when they raided his hideout.

"Based on the description of the informant, he suffered gunshots in the head, chest and right foot," said Dolorfino.

Both Dulmatin and Patek have been working with members of Abu Sayyaf, a Philippine group responsible for the bombing of a ferry close to Manila in 2004 that killed over 100 people in the Philippines' worst militant attack.

Foreign Islamic militants have a history of helping to train militant Muslims in the southern Philippines, a largely Catholic country, in bomb-making techniques.