Malaysia holds 32 Filipinos trying to join incursion
Malaysian security forces on Monday stopped a boat carrying 32 armed Filipinos who were trying to join a two-month-old incursion into the disputed territory of Sabah, police said.
Malaysian security forces on Monday stopped a boat carrying 32 armed Filipinos who were trying to join a two-month-old incursion into the disputed territory of Sabah, police said.
Malaysian security forces twice clashed with the “royal army” during mopping-up operations in Tanjung Batu in Lahad Datu on Monday, Malaysian police Chief Insp. Gen. Ismail Omar said.
President Aquino pitched for peace in resolving the Sabah conflict on Sunday, saying his administration prefers to talk things out.
“Aggressive diplomacy” is the only viable option for the Philippines to end the crisis in Sabah that left at least 60 dead and sent hundreds of others residing in the disputed island fleeing for safety, according to Cabinet officials.
Malaysia’s top security officials on Thursday said they were verifying with their Philippine counterparts the reports that Filipinos in Sabah were maltreated by their security forces.
“They should talk to me directly,” Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III said Tuesday, disowning his brother’s claim that the sultanate had agreed to talk with the government about the “disengagement” of its forces from Sabah.
Three more Filipinos were killed in Lahad Datu, Sabah, according to military chief Gen. Zulkifeli Zin in a news briefing as reported by Radio Malaysia and monitored by the Inquirer in Digos City, Davao del Sur.
Philippine armed intruders shot dead a Malaysian soldier Tuesday, the first military fatality since security forces launched an assault one week ago to crush the Islamist gunmen.
Malaysian police said Monday they had cleared a remote village at the heart of a month-long incursion by Filipino Islamists as another gunman was killed, raising the toll in the crisis to 63.
The Philippines remains committed to deploying troops in UN peacekeeping hot spots despite the brief hostage-taking of 21 Filipino soldiers, who were welcomed back to freedom in Jordan with a traditional military feast, officials said Sunday.
The Philippines expressed “grave concern” Sunday over allegations that innocent Filipinos in Malaysia are being abused after being caught up in fighting in Sabah with followers of an obscure sultanate.
Kuala Lumpur on Thursday rejected a ceasefire offer by the sultan of Sulu despite a call from the UN to end the violence in Sabah that has already cost 60 lives and peacefully settle the dispute over the ownership of the eastern Malaysian state.
