On December 27, 2006, the Philippine military reported that what appeared to be Janjalani's remains had been recovered near Patikul, on Sulu Island in the southern Philippines, and that DNA tests had been ordered to confirm the discovery. As related by fellow fighters taken prisoner, he was shot in the neck in an encounter with government troops in September on Luba Hills, Patikul town, Sulu Island. On January 20, 2007, Military Chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. announced the identity of the corpse was confirmed, through a DNA comparison with a brother of the militant conducted by the American FBI.