Slain Malaysian Islamic militant Azahari Husin knew he would meet a bloody end and his family is happy he died quickly rather than being caught, a report said today.

"We are glad that he died the way he did - in a hail of bullets - rather than being caught and imprisoned," Azahari's sister Suraya Husin, 45, was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times .

Speaking to reporters in Malacca, Suraya said the family always believed Azahari would die at the hands of the police.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, commenting on Azahari's death last Wednesday in a shootout with Indonesian police, said violence was rejected by God.

"He (Azahari) was a good lecturer and was highly qualified. But he took a violent approach which led to his death," Abdullah said.

"We should not follow a violent approach. It is not accepted by God," he added.

Azahari, 48, was a leading member of the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah network blamed for numerous bomb attacks, including the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island.

He was shot dead when police raided his explosives-filled hideout on Indonesia's Java island. His body was later identified using fingerprint records.

Azahari was once a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara in Johor.

'Black mark'

Suraya said the family would always bear a "black mark" because of Azahari's actions and the stigma would remain for a long time. The family only knew his good side - a man who was intelligent, competitive in school and a lover of sports.

But Surya said Azahari was also a secretive person and they never knew his "other side" as an alleged Jemaah Islamiyah operative.

She said a metal plate found in a left leg among the remains was similar to a plate inserted into Azahari's leg after an injury in school.

Azahari's younger brother Bani Yamin Husin and another relative arrived in Jakarta yesterday to bring back the body.

Wan Noraini Jusoh, Azahari's widow, saw her husband's death as an expression of Allah's will, a close relative said Saturday.

"She has come to accept his death," the widow's brother Wan Kamaruddin told AFP, speaking outside her home in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. "She accepts it as fate (decided by Allah). As a Muslim, we have to accept this."

Show proof

In another development, PAS condemned all acts of terrorism but urged Indonesia to show proof that Azahari had been behind terrorist bombings.

"We oppose all forms of violence," its president Abdul Hadi Awang told reporters yesterday.

He said PAS would support the government's move to fight terrorism in Southeast Asia but the root causes must be identified and action to eradicate terrorism must be carried out fairly.

"I fear the allegations against Azahari is like the allegations made against Iraq having weapons of mass destructions.

"Until today there is no proof (of his involvement). We want a fair investigation. We should not be cowed by the US which is carrying out its global agenda of imperialism," he added. - AFP