Do they have thier DNA on file somewhere? Do they use family members? How is this sort of thing done in a situation like this?
Interesting question. I wonder how we could ever conclusively know if we killed Osama Bin Ladin (if we have his DNA on file, where did it come from)?
He has a massive family, some of whom live in the United States. It would probably be easy to get a sample from one of his brothers or sisters to match up to the DNA of the body.
Which, incidentally, is probably how we get DNA to compare for dead terrorism suspects. We can also search their residences to look for toothbrushes or hairbrushes-- even dirty clothing can yeild DNA.
We have DNA from his family: