Death toll from Borneo standoff in Malaysia rises to 62

From the Philippine News Agency/Xinhua (Mar 11): Death toll from Borneo standoff in Malaysia rises to 62

The Malaysian police shot dead a teenage boy and injured a man on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 62 as the Malaysian security forces continue to launch assaults to end the Filipino militant incursions in Malaysia's Sabah state.

Police chief Ismail Omar said the teenager, aged between 12 and 15, was killed when police sensed movements behind a bush and fired shots at it as they were frisking five people in Sungai Bilis village.

The identity of the teenager has yet to be disclosed.

A man in his 30's were also injured in the shooting.

Two policemen were shot and injured by gunmen in overnight skirmishes as the Malaysian authorities said the militants showed no signs of backing down.

The Filipino armed intruders had come in a group of more than 180 who arrived in the east coastal town of Lahad Datu in Sabah from southern Philippines on February 9 to claim territorial rights to the land.

They were followers of a self-proclaimed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III who insisted Sabah belongs to his sultanate.

The Malaysian police on Sunday raised the number of people they arrested under suspicion of sympathizing with the militant to 85 from 79 last night.

Authorities said they are concentrating efforts to hunt down the militants holed up in Kampung Tanjung Batu and Kampung Tanduo by launching airstrikes and sifting them out house-to-house. Some of the militants were found to be posing as civilians, the police said.

Villagers were seen fleeing the two villages in droves on Sunday morning when clashes have temporarily petered out.

Some of the villagers told reporters that many of the thousands trapped in the coastal villages were in need of food and medical supply.

The Malaysian forces and the Filipino militants have been fighting since last Friday in an intense standoff that left at least 62 people dead, including eight Malaysian policemen whom authorities said were brutally murdered.

Malaysia began an all-out raid codenamed "Sovereign Operation" on Tuesday that included airstrikes and ground assaults on several areas aiming to flush out the militants.

Thousands of Filipinos were believed to have fled Sabah for their home country since the violence broke out. The Malaysian police refuted reports by the Philippine press that the Filipinos were abused by the Malaysian forces.

Analysts said Prime Minister Najib Razak is dealing with the incursion crisis carefully as it could reflect on the national polls that are due by June.

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