Lahad Datu News Compilation Thread

[BlackRiders]

Sunday March 10, 2013

Lahad Datu: Hunt intensifies for remnants of armed group

Major sweep: Security forces entering Kampung Simunul in Semporna.

SEMPORNA: The hunt for the remnants of the armed Sulu group has intensified with elite forces returning to Kampung Simunul to conduct a house-to-house search.

Security forces were at the same time making a sweep of rugged terrain between two coastal villages.

Tightening the noose, they shot dead a Sulu gunman and detained 27 people as Operation Daulat entered its fifth day yesterday

The search at Simunul, a three-minute drive from Semporna town, began around 7am and was carried out by about 100 personnel from the Special Branch, General Operations Force and Marine Police, including their forensics team.

A large group of onlookers gathered at the entrance of the stilted village, where six policemen died in an ambush about a week ago.

Simunul headman Panglima Ramli Sarahman said he had instructed the village security committee to help policemen pinpoint houses that had been vacated.

He added: “I gave instructions the night before to give police our full cooperation.

“The police had told me to inform the villagers not to be alarmed, to stay in their homes and not follow them during the operation (which ended at about 1pm).”

On the dead Sulu gunman, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said he was killed at about 8am between Tanjung Batu and Kampung Tanduo while trying to slip through a tight security cordon. This brings to 53 the number of armed intruders killed.

The IGP said that security forces intercepted three boats off Tanjung Batu and detained 27 men at about 2.10pm.

'They claimed to be fishermen but we are wondering what they were doing within the operational area,'' he said at a joint media briefing with Armed Forces chief Jen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin.

Ismail said the detained men had been sent to the Lahad Datu district police headquarters for further investigations.

Excluding the latest arrests, security forces have detained 79 people since the offensive against the armed Sulu group began on March 5.

On the fate of Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, the leader of the armed group, Ismail said it was still unknown.

“There are still bodies in the area (Kampung Tanduo) that we have not identified,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jen Zulkifeli said the security forces were now focusing on a 5km swath of uneven terrain, which has a secondary jungle and a swamp, between Tanduo and Tanjung Batu to flush out the remaining gunmen.

“We believe they are within that area and we are conducting a major sweep there,'' he said.

He said the remnants of the armed group were believed to be moving in pairs or in small units.

“We believe they are trying to avoid security forces by moving between the two villages,'' Zulkifeli added.

 

[BlackRiders]

Sunday March 10, 2013

Lahad Datu: Where life may never be the same again

Elite forces go on a house-to-house search in a coastal village as the hunt for the remnants of the armed Sulu group is intensified.

Reports by P.K.KATHARASON, MUGUNTAN VANAR, RUBEN SARIO, PHILIP GOLINGAI, SHAHANAAZ HABIB, SHAUN HO, SIRA HABIBU, YUEN MEIKENG, KOW KWAN YEE, AUSTIN CAMOENS, EDMUND NGO, ELWEEN LOKE, STEPHANIE LEE, LOSHANA K. SHAGAR AND NICHOLAS CHENG; with photos by AZHARM AHFOF,NORMIMIE DIUN and M. AZHAR ARIF. VIDEOS by ARON RAJ and IBRAHIM HARRIS

LAHAD DATU: Life may never be the same again for many Sabahans in the east coast especially in areas directly bearing the brunt of acts of terror in a war zone-like environment.

Since the intrusion of the armed Sulu group in Tanduo village about a month ago, more than 2,000 villagers have been displaced and the lives of thousands of families have been disrupted.

People are hoping that the gruesome war stories of brutal killings and daily gunfire heard in southern Philippines will not land on Sabah shores as the Filipino migrants know too well what the 40-year Moro conflict had done to their lives.

“We came here with our parents fleeing the Mindanao war. We live a peaceful life but now we fear the war has followed us. All we want is to make an honest living. Now this has happened,'' said a 45-year-old Suluk housewife.

She and several other local Suluks interviewed admitted that there were locals among them who felt that they had a right to stay in Sabah which they claimed was once their ancestral land.

Semporna's Simunul village fisherman Abdul Rahman, 50, said the armed intrusion had put local Suluks in a difficult position and their future remained uncertain.

“I am afraid to go to sea. My sister has moved out of Simunul and she and her family do not dare move back. What awaits them, I am not sure,” he said.

“We are afraid of the intruders too even though we are of the same ethnic origin. Our safety comes first,” said foodstall operator Noraishah Idris, 30, adding that she was unsure how the Tanduo bombing and the Semporna attack will change their peaceful lives.

Bajau villager Damin Abdullah, 34, who sells gravestones and is a father of eight, said he was not sure if things would get better and was worried about how to feed his family.

“I am not sure how my life will change. I don't know if it will be permanent, but I am worried,” said Semporna villager Mohd Farid, 17.

Several other Filipinos of Suluk origin said that they have been receiving text messages from their relatives and friends in southern Philippines to support the intruders but have ignored such messages.

“We are loyal Malaysians. Our loyalty is to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Yang di-Pertua Negeri,'' said Abdul Rahman Datu Ismail, who heads the Sabah Ethnic Suluk Association.

“The act of terror caught us by surprise. We are deeply saddened by what is happening,'' he said, adding that it would have a negative effect on the local Suluk community who despise the acts of violence against police personnel whose families are now grieving.

“Although life has been crawling back to normal in many of the east coast towns, apprehension lingers over reprisal attacks from intruders across the border,” he said.

Semporna Travel and Tour Operator Association chairman Ramsyah Abdul Hamid, 40, said he hoped that people would not be wary of local Suluks as few could tell them apart from the intruders.

 

[BlackRiders]

Published: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 9:30:00 AM
Updated: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 9:33:04 AM

Lahad Datu: Education Ministry to give counselling to teachers and students
By CHRISTINA TAN

BATU PAHAT: The Education Ministry has started giving psychological and emotional first aid assistance to all teachers and students in several conflict areas in Sabah to help them cope with the situation.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (pix) said Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), the crisis intervention program, is being conducted by the Ministry's psychology and counselling section beginning this week.

He said five counselling experts would lead 24 counselling teachers to provide the assistance to teachers and students in the four affected areas, namely Lahad Datu, Kunak, Tawau and Semporna.

The programme would be held in stages to assist teachers and students from 57 schools in the areas affected, he said after a groundbreaking ceremony of a new school building for SJK (C) Chong Hwa in Sungai Ayam here on Saturday.

“Since it began, a total of 355 teachers in Lahad Datu have been given counselling to help them manage the traumatic experiences.

“Another team of counsellors would travel to the crisis areas soon to help the students,” he said.

Besides, seminars are also being arranged for teachers whose husbands among the security forces personnel deployed to Sabah, he said.

Dr Mohd Puad, who is Batu Pahat MP, said many teachers teaching in islands nearby Simunul are still traumatised by the incidents and fear of going to schools by boats.

 

[BlackRiders]

Published: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 11:55:00 AM
Updated: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 12:02:27 PM

Lahad Datu: Tanjung Labian villagers flee in midst of gunshots

By RUBEN SARIO

Police trucks filled with personnel was seen heading in Tanjung Labian minutes after shots were fired.

LAHAD DATU: A group of villagers remaining at Tanjung Labian village near where security forces are on the offensive against Sulu gunmen fled the area after hearing four gunshots on Sunday.

A media team including The Star's photographer Normimie Duin saw the villagers pouring out from their remote coastal village located some 2km from Tanjung Batu village where two policemen were injured in overnight skirmishes with the Sulu gunmen.

''Please let us through. Please let us through,'' the villagers told the media team who spotted them at about 10am.

They were on motorcycles, car and vans heading out to the Felda main road.

The media team also spotted an armed man wearing dark clothes standing by the roadside near the village.

Upon seeing the media team in two vehicles, he ducked and disappeared.

A police truck filled with personnel was seen heading in Tanjung Labian minutes later.

 

[BlackRiders]

A suspect, believed to have link with Sulu gunmen, arrested at Semporna yesterday. #SabahAttacks http://pic.twitter.com/75uxOnrvdB

Kampung Simunul in Semporna where 6 policemen & 6 Sulu gunmen killed in gunfight on March 2. #Sabahattacks http://pic.twitter.com/LvXJKDovTi

VAT 69 commandos at Kampung Simunul, Semporna in Sabah yesterday. #SabahAttacks http://pic.twitter.com/JjRwLDlgRX



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[BlackRiders]

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Tentera Malaysia VS Penceroboh SULU Filipina di Lahad Datu Sabah!!

Action shooting and war between the forces of Malaysia and the Philippines in Sulu military invaders infringement issues in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

 

[BlackRiders]

10 March 2013| last updated at 12:28PM

LAHAD DATU: 2 policemen injured in shootout with Sulu terrorists

LAHAD DATU: Two policemen from the General Operations Force (GOF) were injured after they were fired upon by alleged Sulu terrorists during an operation in Kampung Tanduo and Kampung Tanjung Batu here yesterday.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib (left) giving updates on Lahad Datu situation at a press conference yesterday. -- Pix by Edmund Samunting

The policemen, both 25, were part of the security forces' team that entered into the village in an eight-hour operation that started at 8pm yesterday.

Both are reported to be in stable condition and have been warded at the Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan.

Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said one policeman was injured at his thigh, while another at his ankle during a skirmish with the armed intruders.

"The policemen were injured after they were shot at last night.

"During the operations, members of the security forces reported intermittent gun fire," he said at a press conference to update on Ops Tanduo at Felda Sahabat here today.

Hamza said that such action by the terrorists in engaging first at our security forces showed that they were not comitted to a said ceasefire.

He added that authorities will continue with the operations.

Hamza also revealed that as of today 85 suspects have been detained in connection with the Lahad Datu incident under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 , together with Section 130 (c) of the Penal Code.

"In addition to that 66 others have also been detained for illegally entering or trespassing within the Ops Daulat operational area," he said.

On another matter, Hamza said the situation in Lahad Datu is improving.

He also urged the public not to speculate on the on-going operation and to relay any information to the police.

 

[BlackRiders]

‘We’re treated like animals’

By Julie Alipala, Karlos Manlupig
Inquirer Mindanao
6:10 pm | Saturday, March 9th, 2013

SLOW BOAT TO FREEDOM AND SAFETY A police sweep of the Filipino community in Sandakan drove its residents into “extreme fear” forcing them to escape into the night boarding whatever available boat that would take them. An initial wave of 400 evacuees from Sabah arrived in Sulu on Friday. A thousand more are expected in the next few days. KARLOS MANLUPIG/INQUIRER MINDANAO

ZAMBOANGA CITY—“They dragged all the men outside the houses, kicked and hit them,” 32-year-old Amira Taradji said on Friday as she recounted her family’s ordeal in Sandakan, which started when Malaysian security forces launched a crackdown on suspected supporters of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III in Sabah.

Taradji said Malaysian policemen ordered Filipino men to run as fast as they could and shot them.

Among those killed on Monday night during the police sweep of a Filipino community in Sandakan was her brother, Jumadil, she said.

Taradji, who was originally from Calinan in Davao City, was among some 400 Filipinos who fled Lahad Datu, Semporna, Tawau and Kunak in Sabah for Sulu as the violence sparked by the intrusion of the followers of Jamalul into the eastern Malaysian state spread at the start of the week.

In other Philippine areas near Sabah, hundreds more have arrived since the police crackdown started and many more Filipinos are expected to return home anytime soon, according to government officials.

Speaking to the INQUIRER by phone through the help of a Sulu local official shortly after arriving in Patikul town by a commercial vessel from Sabah late Friday, Taradji said the police sweeps had become dreadful for both Filipinos and Sabahans known as Orang Suluk (people who originated from Sulu).

Taradji reported the arrest of Filipino men in Tawau and Kunak.

Some of the arrested men, who showed immigration papers, were shot dead, she said, recounting reports by other Filipinos who fled Sabah with her.

“Some of those arrested did not see jail because they were shot and killed,” Taradji said.

She said those who had been locked up were also unlucky, as the Malaysian authorities were not feeding them.

Extreme fear

Taradji had lived in Sandakan since she was 6 years old and she was a holder of MyKad, the identification card issued to Malaysian citizens and permanent residents.

She said that despite her and her family’s being holders of MyKad, they hastily abandoned their home when the police sweeps started Monday night.

She said that from a distance, she saw how those caught during the raid suffered in the hands of Malaysian policemen.

“We sailed from Sandakan to nearby islands. From one island to another, until we reached a small island where we took [an outrigger] for the Philippines. We begged hard so they would allow us into one of the [their boats],” she said.

Carla Manlaw, 47, said the extreme fear of Malaysian policemen, with stories of abuses and killings, prompted her and other Filipinos to leave for Bongao in Tawi-Tawi.

Manlaw and 99 others, including children and elderly people, reached Philippine waters in two motorboats after sailing for about two hours from Sandakan. They were intercepted and escorted by a Philippine Navy ship to Bongao late Friday.

“My employer had no problem with having a Filipino worker. But what bothered me was the police,” she said.

Manlaw said the other Filipinos in her boat fled because of fear. “What will they do to us?” she said, quoting her fellow refugees.

She said that when she heard that a vessel was leaving for Bongao from Sandakan, she immediately grabbed her things and went for it.

Investigate now

Mayor Hussin Amin of Jolo, Sulu, said the accounts of Filipinos fleeing police abuse in Sabah were “alarming and disturbing” and the Philippine government should look into it.

He said he had spoken with many refugees and their stories were the same: Malaysian soldiers and policemen do not distinguish between illegal immigrants and MyKad holders.

“Soldiers and policemen stormed their houses and even those with legitimate working papers like passports and IC papers were not spared. These documents were allegedly torn before their eyes. Men were told to run and were shot if they did. Those who refused were beaten black and blue. Filipinos in jail were executed,” Amin said by phone late Friday.

What’s really happening?

“We are asking our government to investigate now. Refugees from Sandakan and Sabah had spoken to us about their ordeals. If indeed what they have been telling us is true, then Malaysian authorities are not just targeting the Kirams in Lahad Datu,” Amin said.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch also wants to know what is really happening in Sabah.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, issued a statement on Friday saying that while the “situation on the ground in the conflict zone in Sabah is still quite murky,” Malaysia “should provide clear and accurate information on what had occurred.”

Robertson said the Malaysian authorities should “ensure the protection of all civilians in the area, and allow humanitarian access for the provision of emergency assistance to those affected by the violence.”

Detained without charges

“We’re concerned about the Malaysian government’s use of the Security Offenses Special Measures Act to detain reportedly more than 50 individuals, and call on the government to either charge them with a recognizable criminal offense or release them. All parties to the conflict should heed the call of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to ‘act in full respect of international human rights norms and standards,” Robertson said.

Amin said that for now, he tended to believe the stories told by the refugees that Filipino men, especially Tausug, were being killed in the streets and in detention centers in Malaysia.

“Our people are treated like animals there and this has to stop because they are no longer hitting the Kirams,” Amin said.

He said one reason why he believed the stories was his observation that children and women were so “deeply traumatized” that they tried to flee when they saw Filipino policemen as they arrived in Jolo.

“Some (of them) even attempted to jump to the sea, thinking they were still in Malaysia,” he said, referring to scenes at the Jolo port this week.

“I spoke to them and gave them assurance that they were all home and no one would harm them now and the policemen securing the port were not Malaysians but Filipinos protecting them,” Amin said.

Humanitarian crisis

Social welfare officials, who spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity, said they anticipated that more than a thousand Filipinos from Sabah would arrive in the next few days.

One official said the crush of evacuees would “pose a problem” greater than the difficulties caused by the massive deportation of Filipinos from Malaysia in 2002.

Some 64,000 undocumented Filipinos were forced out of Sabah in that year and feeding or relocating them became a nightmare for officials.

Amirah Lidasan of the militant group Suara Bangsamoro said she pitied women and children who braved danger at sea to escape the Sabah violence.

The waters between Sabah and the Philippine areas of Tawi-Tawi and Sulu are known for huge waves that could swamp and capsize small vessels.

Survival problems

Taradji said another problem facing many Filipinos fleeing Sabah was how to live in the Philippines after living for decades in Malaysia.

She said she managed to bring some money to sustain her family for a few days.

But after that, she and her husband do not know how to feed the family, she said.

“We do not even know which way is Calinan now,” Taradji said, adding that the Philippines is now a foreign land to her and her family after living for the past 26 years in Sabah.

Manlaw had the same thing to say.

“We have no future here, unlike in Sabah where we had jobs,” she said.

Like Taradji, Manlaw and the other refugees who arrived in Bongao were being assisted by government agencies. With reports from Cynthia D. Balana in Manila; and Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao

 

[BlackRiders]

Filipino refugees claim of police brutality in Sulu roundup

BY CLARA CHOOI
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
March 10, 2013

Police search two men detained at Tanjung Labian, in Lahad Datu, March 6, 2013. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 ― Thousands of Filipinos are reportedly fleeing Sabah for the Philippines, gripped with fear over horror tales of torture and violence allegedly used by the Malaysian police on Suluks and suspected followers of the Kiram clan.

Refugees interviewed by The Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday claimed they fled their homes in east Malaysia after witnessing aggressive acts used by authorities here during widespread operations to flush out the Sulu invaders earlier this week.

One refugee said Filipino men were dragged from their homes and beaten, then forced to run while the police shot arbitrarily at them, even after they produced immigration documents to prove their stay in Malaysia was valid.

Reports have also reached the self-proclaimed Sulu “Sultan” Jamalul Kiram III, whose brother Agbimuddin Kiram is leading the armed incursion in Sabah, that Malaysians of Tausug descent were being singled out in the operations and brutalised at the hands of the police, including those who held MyKads.

The Tausug are also known as the Suluk people, who come from Sulu in the Philippines.

“[The Malaysians] claim they are enforcing maximum tolerance, but there’s no truth to that. Instead, maximum violence is what’s happening. Even women, pregnant women, and children are being fired upon by Malaysian forces,” Jamalul’s daughter, “princess” Jacel Kiram, was quoted as saying in a report on Manila Standard Today.

The Sultanate’s spokesman, Abraham Idjirani, claimed that a pregnant woman, who was rounded up during the operation, even went into labour while under arrest in Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, where the Sulu army’s hideout was at the time.

“The pregnant woman gave birth at the police station, but the newborn died shortly after… People are being manhandled by the police,” Idjirani said, according to Manila Standard Today. “They are arresting not only Filipinos and supporters of the sultanate, but also rounding up even their own citizens.”

In the Inquirer, a 32-year-old Filipino named Amira Taradji said her brother was killed at the hands of the Malaysian police during their rounding-up of suspected supporters.

“They dragged all the males outside the house, kicked and hit them,” she told the daily in a phone call from Patikul, Sulu, shortly after she arrived in the Philippines on Friday night along with some 200 other refugees.

Taradji claimed that Malaysian security forces stormed villages in the coastal constituency of Sandakan where she was staying on Monday night, and in the ordeal, her brother Jumadil was allegedly gunned down after he was forced by the police to run as fast as he could.

According to the Inquirer, officials said there are now close to 1,000 refugees who have fled Sabah for Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, while more are expected to arrive over the next few days as Malaysia continues operations flush out the Sulu invaders.

Taradji also reported of horror tales that Malaysian authorities are deliberately starving those currently detained on suspicion of their connection or support for the Sulu incursion.

“Even if you have valid immigration document, you will not be spared. If you are lucky to reach the jail, you will die of starvation because they will not feed you,” she said, according to the Inquirer.

Taradji is reportedly a MyKad holder and has lived in Sandakan since she was six-years-old, but said she still decided to flee Sabah after witnessing the use of aggression by the police on Filipinos.

Another refugee, 47-year-old Carla Manlaw, told the Inquirer that she left Sabah after news spread like wildfire through the villages that the police were rounding up Filipinos and arbitrarily shooting at them.

“My employer has no problem with having a Filipino employee. But what bothered me was the police,” she was quoted as saying.

Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin told the Inquirer that he had spoken to many of the evacuees from Sabah and was told repeatedly of the alleged abuses by the Malaysian security personnel.

“Soldiers and policemen stormed their houses and even those with legitimate working papers like passports and IC papers were not spared. These documents were allegedly torn down before their eyes. Men were told to run and were shot if they did. Those who refused were beaten black and blue. Filipinos inside the jail were executed,” he said.

“We are asking our government to investigate now. Refugees from Sandakan and Sabah share [the same] ordeals. If indeed what they have been telling us is true, then Malaysian authorities were not just targeting the Kirams in Lahad Datu,” Amin added, according to the Inquirer.

The Malaysian government repeated its stand yesterday that it will continue hunting down Sulu invaders in Lahad Datu until every single militant is flushed out of the country.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein pointed out that the militants have refused to back down despite the all-out assault on their group by Malaysian security forces, The Star Online reported.

“They have not laid down their arms unconditionally, so this will go on,” he was quoted as saying yesterday, before adding that all those on duty to clear the bodies off the gunmen must prioritise their safety.

“We heard about people saying there were booby traps on the blast sites so my advice is plan your moves properly and make sure safety is the top priority on the list,” he added.

Hishammuddin also confirmed that the current Sulu death toll was at 53 but said there may be more lives that have yet to be accounted for.

Malaysia launched an all-out assault on the Sulu group on Tuesday morning, using fighter jets to rain down bombs on Kampung Tanduo where the Sulu group had been hiding.

After the airstrike, ground troops moved in for the “mopping up” operations, going from door-to-door and advancing slowly over the uneven terrain surrounding the coastal village to hunt down the armed militants.

Despite reports of the rising number of Sulu deaths, however, the Kiram clan said on Friday it believes that only 10 of its men have fallen, suggesting the use of propaganda by Malaysia to claim success over its attack on the Filipinos.

Spokesman Idjirani said the family wanted Malaysia to permit foreign journalists, including those from the Philippines, to enter the conflict zone in Lahad Datu, Sabah, to confirm the Sulu death toll.

“You must allow the foreign and local media into the conflict areas to verify their claims. Until that is done, everything is subject to debate,” he was quoted in The Philippine Star as saying in a Friday report.

Agbimuddin last contacted his family in the Philippines at 2.30 pm Friday, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, saying he and his men were still alive and on the run but were suffering from hunger.

 

[BlackRiders]

Published: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 4:15:00 PM
Updated: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 4:48:12 PM

Lahad Datu: They cannot mutilate bodies like cutting off heads, says Zahid Hamidi

Soldiers moving into a village during the Ops Daulut to flush out the remaining gunmen in Lahad Datu. Starpix by AZHAR MAHFOF

In the laws of war, intruders or members of the security forces cannot mutilate bodies like ripping off eyes, decapitating heads or cutting up bodies. - Defence Minister

IPOH: The Sulu intruders should be tried according to Malaysian laws for brutally and inhumanely killing eight policemen, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"We will ensure that no Filipino terrorist escape from our dragnet and we want them dead or arrested," he told reporters after launching a carnival here.

Zahid did not rule out that the intruders were under the influence of drugs or were using black magic for resorting to such dastardly act.

"In the laws of war, intruders or members of the security forces cannot mutilate bodies like ripping off eyes, decapitating heads or cutting up bodies.

"What they did was unacceptable to Malaysia for this acts showed that the Filipino terrorists have no mercy," he said, adding that the armed forces would leave it to the police to take appropriate actions against the terrorists according to the laws.

Zahid said no party should question who led the mopping-up operations for the armed forces and the police worked together in defending the country.

"We want the people to know that when the situation called for it, the police and the armed forces can work together.

"That is why the armed forces chief and the inspector-general of police have been holding joint news conferences," he added.

On self-proclaimed Sultan Jamalul Kiram III's call for a ceasefire, Zahid said the government would not compromise for there was no sign of the terrorists letting up.

"I have been at ground zero, and I could see that they intended to continue to occupy the areas that they had intruded for they had been promised a sum of money and farm land in Sabah by Jamalul Kiram and other leaders," he added. - Bernama

 

[BlackRiders]

Published: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 5:17:00 PM
Updated: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 5:56:49 PM

Lahad Datu: 33 foreigners detained under Ops Daulat in Semporna

Some of those detained being transported to a detention centre in a police truck.

SEMPORNA: Forty-four people were detained, of which 11 were released later, in mopping up operations at Kampong Bakau on Sunday.

OCPD DSP Mohd Firdaus Francis Abdullah said the 11 were released immediately because they were locals, had MyKads and not connected to the Sulu armed intruders.

“The 33 being detained are foreigners. We have not determined if they have anything to do with Op Daulat at all.

“They are just being detained in Semporna for questioning,” he said.

 

[BlackRiders]

Published: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 5:31:00 PM
Updated: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 5:53:26 PM

Lahad Datu: Teenage boy killed in Ops Daulat

By RUBEN SARIO

LAHAD DATU: A teenage boy was killed in Kg Sungai Bilis on Sunday during Ops Daulat to flush out the remaining Sulu gunmen.

Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said security personnel had stopped and questioned about five people at about 9.45am when they saw movements in some bushes.

Reacting to the possibility that they were under attack by Sulu gunmen, the security team opened fire at the bushes.

The boy, aged between 12 and 15, was later found dead behind the bushes. A man in his 30's was injured in the leg during the incident.

Ismail said the people had been told to stay away from the areas where police and the army were conducting operations to flush out the gunmen which enters its sixth day.

 

[BlackRiders]

Published: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 7:42:00 PM
Updated: Sunday March 10, 2013 MYT 7:53:01 PM

Lahad Datu: Two trucks with dead gunmen seen leaving Kg Tanduo

LAHAD DATU: Two police trucks carrying black plastic bags believed to be of dead gunmen were seen coming of the Tanduo village on Sunday evening.

Kg Tanduo is among the areas where security forces are conducting mopping up operations to flush of the Sulu gunmen.

Two armored personnel carriers were also seen driving ahead of the trucks at the end of the day's operations.

They arrived at the Felda Sahabat complex where bodies were handed over to a forensics team.

 

[whoami]

Tks for the compilation dude.

 

[BlackRiders]

10 March 2013 | last updated at 10:25PM

LAHAD DATU: PEKIDA urges members to refrain from assisting intruders

KOTA KINABALU -- Malaysian Islamic Welfare And Sermon Organisation (PEKIDA) Sabah branch chairman Datu Mohd Akjan Ali Muhammad urged its leaders and members, particularly those in Lahad Datu, to refrain from providing any form of assistance to the intruders from Sulu.

He said they should instead provide whatever support and assistance they can to the Malaysian security forces to prevent the intruders from slipping into other parts of the state.

Speaking at a news conference in Kampung Likas, near here today, Akjanreminded its members from the Tausug (Suluk) community that they are Malaysian citizens, and therefore should always place their allegiance to Malaysia, and beamong the first to step forward to defend the country when facing threats from outside.

"As the Chairman of PEKIDA Sabah, I wish to reiterate that our loyalty is always with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, our beloved King and the government of the day. We shall go all out to protect our beloved Sabah homeland in any way we can, even if we have to sacrifice our lives," he said.

Akjan, who himself is a Tausug (Suluk), noted that since the onset of theintrusion by the armed militants from Sulu who proclaimed themselves as followers of the self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III, a majority ofthe Tausugs (Suluk) in Sabah had expressed disgust and rejection to the action of Jamalul Kiram and the group. -- Bernama

 

[BlackRiders]

10 March 2013| last updated at 09:51PM

LAHAD DATU: 9 homes used as hideouts may be torn down

SEMPORNA: Nine stilt houses suspected of being used as hideouts by a group of Filipino intruders in Kampung Simunul water village may be torn down, said village head Ramlee Saraman.

He said unsuspecting house owners could have fallen prey to the group by selling the houses to them without any inkling that they would be used as hideouts.

The group infiltrated the water village and mingled with villagers, who even called one of them, who was killed in an ensuing gun battle an 'imam' although he did not have any accreditation, he told a Bernama reporter who visited the village, today.

Six policemen and six intruders were killed in skirmishes at Kampung Simunul on March 2 - the first of its kind since it was opened on March 9, 1939.

Ramlee, 56, who became village head in 2006, said if the houses were demolished by local authorities, residents' confidence would be restored that the village was safe again and no longer a terrorist den.

He said about 1,000 Kampung Simunul residents left their houses following the gun battle. - BERNAMA

 

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10 March 2013| last updated at 09:05PM

LAHAD DATU: Terrorists should be tried under Malaysian laws: Zahid

IPOH -- The Filipino intruders should be tried according to the Malaysian laws for brutally and inhumanely killing eight policemen, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"We will ensure that no Filipino terrorists escape from our dragnet and we want them dead or arrested," he told reporters after launching the Gopeng Barisan Nasional and non-governmental organisation Carnival here, today.

Zahid did not rule out that the intruders were under the influence of drugs or using black magic for resorting to such dastardly act.

"In the laws of war, intruders or members of the security forces cannot mutilate bodies like ripping off eyes, decapitating heads or cutting up bodies.

"What they did was unacceptable to Malaysia for this acts showed that theFilipino terrorists have no mercy," he said, adding that the armed forces would leave it to the police to take appropriate actions against the terrorists according to the laws. -- Bernama

 

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Warning : This official website of Team Kiram is poorly designed and contains gory images and splattered brains.

http://www.sandakan.com/

 

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10 March 2013| last updated at 08:11PM

LAHAD DATU: Philippine's refugee in Sandakan fled for home

By Olivia Miwil | [email protected]

SANDAKAN: Around 1,000 Philippine refugees here have packed up and fled en masse for Sulu since Saturday.

Sabah Suluk United Association's Sandakan division president Jamal Ali said the refugees were seen boarding the boats from the central market in the town.

"Some of them claimed that they were afraid by the heavy presence of our security forces and the constant operations held around the town these few days."

"These refugees felt it was safer for them to go back to their homeland now," he told New Straits Times.

Jamal added that those refugees mainly work at the factories here.

He also denied the Philippine's media report that the Suluk group here left because they were harrased by police or that some of them were killed during the Ops Daulat operation.

Another witness Abdul Rahman Junaidi said these groups including women and young children, brought lots of packed items on the boats.

"From here, the boats will send them to Pulau Berhala where they will get into a "Kumpit" (a barter trade ship) heading back to their homeland.

"The journey takes about 23 hours and cost RM70 for each passenger," he added.

 

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10 March 2013| last updated at 08:14PM

LAHAD DATU:'Sulu terrorists not fit to be known as Sulu Sultanate army'

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Maslan having a conversation with the Maritime commandos involved in Ops Daulat at Lahad Datu this morning. -- NSTP/Malai Rosmah Tuah.

LAHAD DATU: The Sulu terrorist group that invaded Kampung Tanduo, about 130km from here, is not fit to be known as the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu because of their violent action which threatened the livelihood of local residents, including Muslims.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Maslan said people who terrorised others should not be likened to a respectable group like the army.

"Stop referring to that terrorist group as the royal army of the Sulu Sultanate and it is also inappropriate to link the Sulu community in Sabah with the group.

"Evil has nothing to do with race. One can be evil because of greed, power greedy, with shallow religious faith and possess animalistic character," he said at a meeting with Suluk community leaders here last night.

Ahmad said the Suluk community in Sabah could succeed in life if they were hardworking.

The "Ops Daulat", launched to flush out the remaining armed intruders from the southern Philippines, is now in its sixth day with 53 of the militant invaders reported killed in the operation.

Since the intrusion by the militants on Feb 12, eight policemen had been killed, two of them in an attack in Kampung Tanduo on March 1 and the other six in an ambush in Semporna the following day. -- BERNAMA