10 Filipino Sulu gunmen dead in Borneo gunfight: report

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 1): 10 Filipino Sulu gunmen dead in Borneo gunfight: report

Filipino gunmen were killed and law enforcers injured as gunshots were fired in a standoff between a Filipino rebel group and Malaysian authorities on Friday in a village in Malaysia's Sabah state, Malaysian media reported.

At least 10 rebel gunmen were killed and four others injured, according to the Star, while three Malaysian forces were injured in the gunfight. Villagers said they saw bodies being taken out of the village as they continued to hear gunshots.

Home affairs minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in his twitter that the rebel gunmen had fired shots at the Malaysian security forces at 10 a.m. Friday morning, which may have triggered the gunfight. But he denied reports of casualties and said the negotiations would continue. A press conference by the Malaysian authorities is scheduled to be held at 4 p.m. Friday.

Malaysian security forces were said to have advanced into Tanduo village, where the rebel group was holed up in an enforced blockade after the rebel group failed to heed an ultimatum set by both the Filipino and Malaysian authorities to leave.

The rebels were reported to have fired shots in the air to warn off the Malaysian security forces a day earlier. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak remarked at a press conference on Friday that "the group must realize that what they are doing is a serious offense."

The Malaysian government has set last Sunday a deadline for the rebel group to leave the country while the Filipino government extended it to Tuesday. Malaysian authorities have been in a standoff since February 9 with a group of about 180 Filipinos who invaded parts of Sabah's eastern Lahad Datu to reclaim the area as their ancestral territory.

Some 30 people among the group were said to be armed. Rounds of negotiation by officials from both Malaysia and the Philippines went futile as the rebel group insisted they will never surrender, rejecting calls by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to leave Sabah peacefully.

The intruders were followers of Philippine sultan based in restive southern Philippines, Jamalul Kiram, who insisted Sabah is his home and that his Sulu sultanate once controlled parts of Borneo.

The Malaysian government had kept mum about the negotiation process, citing concerns that sensationalization on the case would jeopardize the group's deportation.

Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, Jamalul's brother who led the " royal army" in Sabah, told Filipino radio dzBB in an interview on Friday that his group was being shot at and there have been casualties. The Malaysian forces were said to have come as close as 300 meters to where the group was holed up.

The Philippines has last Sunday sent a humanitarian ship with Filipino-Muslim leaders, social workers and medical personnel onboard to Sabah in an attempt to ferry back the women and other civilians among the rebel group.

Analysts have said the group had resorted to invading Sabah after they felt being left out in a landmark peace deal between the Philippine government and Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which was brokered by Malaysia.

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