( CNN ) The FBI has confirmed that one of its most wanted terrorists , the Malaysian bomb maker known as Marwan , was killed in an otherwise disastrous raid in the Philippines in January . Marwan , whose real name is Zulkifli bin Hir , was believed by the FBI to a member of southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah 's central command . The FBI said in February that a DNA sample -- understood to be from a severed finger -- taken from a man killed in a raid in the southern Philippines showed a link with a known relative of Marwan . But the FBI now says tests have confirmed that the dead man was the wanted Islamic extremist . `` After a thorough review of forensic data and information obtained from our Philippine law enforcement partners , the FBI has assessed that terrorism subject , Zulkifli Abdhir ... is deceased and has been removed from the FBI 's list of Most Wanted Terrorists , '' David Bowdich , assistant director in charge of the FBI 's Los Angeles field office , told CNN in a statement . The FBI had been offering a $ 5 million reward for information leading to Marwan 's capture in the wake of his 2007 indictment on terror charges in a California court . It accused him of being a supplier of IEDs to terrorist organizations , and having conducted bomb making training for terror groups , including the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf . Marwan had previously been falsely reported dead after a raid by Philippine security forces in 2012 . The Philippines has been fighting an insurgency in the predominantly Muslim south for years , and last year signed a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ( MILF ) , the largest rebel group in the region . But in January it launched a surprise raid in pursuit of Marwan at Mamapasono , in the southern province of Maguindanao . The mission went disastrously awry . Forty-four members of the police 's elite Special Action Force ( SAF ) unit were killed in the assault , targeting an area controlled by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ( BIFF ) -- a hardline splinter group which has rejected the peace deal with the Philippines government . According to a report released by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict ( IPAC ) last month , the BIFF faction sheltering Marwan had sworn allegiance to ISIS . In the immediate aftermath of the assault , the SAF company charged with executing Marwan came under fire , before another SAF company stationed in nearby MILF territory as a `` blocking force '' became engaged in an eight-hour firefight with MILF fighters . According to the IPAC report , the SAF `` blocking '' company eventually ran out of ammunition and only one of their number survived , . Eighteen MILF fighters were killed and a number of BIFF fighters may also died . The clash shattered a three-year ceasefire with the MILF , authorities said . A national day of mourning was declared as the men were laid to rest . Bowdich expressed the FBI 's `` sincere condolences to the brave officers of the Special Action Force who lost their lives while attempting to apprehend this dangerous fugitive . '' While an SAF superintendent said at a eulogy for the fallen commandos that their sacrifice had been worth it , controversy has dogged the botched mission in the Philippines . The IPAC report argued that the `` single-minded focus '' of authorities on killing Marwan has threatened the peace agreement with the MILF , which is yet to cross the final hurdle of being passed into law by the Philippines Congress . `` The best chance the southern Philippines has ever had for peace may now be in jeopardy , '' read the report , which argued that the Mamapasano fiasco was the result of a misguided emphasis on killing Marwan . The report argued that , although Marwan had aided terror attacks and provided funds and equipment to MILF and Abu Sayyaf , he was not `` the master bomber that his reputation suggested . '' Yet for the Philippines authorities and their U.S. allies , killing Marwan had become such a priority that security forces bypassed the mechanisms that had been established to alert the MILF to such operations , for fear of word leaking to their target . The report quoted an anonymous Indonesian associate of Marwan 's who described the Malaysian as `` a little snake who has been blown up into a dragon . '' READ MORE : Dozens of Philippine police killed in raid on 'high value ' bomb makers . READ MORE : Philippines honors 44 slain commandos with day of mourning . CNN 's Arlene Samson-Espiritu and Kathy Quiano contributed to this report .
A man killed in a raid in the Philippines in January was a `` most wanted '' terrorist , the FBI says . Marwan was a Malaysian believed to have provided support to Islamist terror groups . 44 elite Philippine commandos were killed in the raid on his hideout last month .