Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited a morgue yesterday to look at the bullet-ridden body of one of Asia's most-wanted terrorists and praised security forces for gunning him down.

　　Indonesian-born Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi, who was regarded as a bombmaking expert, had been convicted of explosives possession, confessed to deadly bombings in Manila and was accused of plotting terror attacks by the al-Qaida-linked terroristsgroupsJemaah Islamiyah.

　　He escaped from Philippine police headquarters three months ago, embarrassing Arroyo and her government, who are strong supporters of the US-led war on terror.

　　The confirmation of Al-Ghozi's death gives Arroyo a badly needed victory just days ahead of a visit to the Philippines by close ally US President George W. Bush.

　　National police chief Hermogenes Ebdane said Al-Ghozi was shot to death on Sunday after he and his companion opened fire on a joint police-military team that tried to stop their vehicle near Pigkawayan town.

　　Local police, however, denied any shooting took place at the location.

　　National Security Adviser Roilo Golez denied speculation that Al-Ghozi had been arrested earlier and killed while in custody, possibly to prevent him from talking about his jailbreak that was reportedly arranged by corrupt officers.

　　The ABS-CBN TV network broadcast pictures of Al-Ghozi's nearly naked corpse in a morgue. Arroyo flew to the southern Philippines to take a personal look at the body while wearing a surgical mask.

　　An Indonesian diplomat in the southern Philippines said he was negotiating to have the remains repatriated.

　　"The death of Al-Ghozi signals that terrorism will never get far in the Philippines and that the long arm of the law will eventually get them," Arroyo said in a statement. "This event should lift much of the anxiety of our people.

　　"I would like to commend all military and police forces involved," she said.

　　Financial markets reacted positively. Philippine shares closed at their highest level in 18 months.

　　"It's a step forward in terms of getting terrorist organizations in Southeast Asia under control," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio."It's a help, because Al-Ghozi is one of the masterminds of terrorist attacks. The death of Al-Ghozi will be an important step forward in the war against terrorism in Southeast Asia," he said.

　　But Downer cautioned that even with Al-Ghozi dead, "I don't ever want to say the risk is gone."

　　Al-Ghozi was serving a 12-year prison sentence when he slipped out of the heavily secured police intelligence building on July 14 with two suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf, another al-Qaida-linked terrorist group.

　　The Indonesian Muslim militant had admitted involvement in a series of five bombings on December 30, 2000, in Manila that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100.

　　In a separate development, the US military has deployed Orion P3 surveillance planes to scour Philippine jungles for al-Qaida-linked guerrillas who pose a threat to American counterterrorism trainers, the Philippine air force said yesterday.

　　Deployment of the long-range spy planes, at least two of which are stationed at a central Philippine air base, started two weeks ago with regular surveillance flights over the southern island of Mindanao as part of a stronger security shield for US forces there.