‘Chopper dropped flyers urging Kiram followers to leave Sabah’

Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A helicopter hovered over the village in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Sunday night and dropped flyers urging the followers of Sultan Sulu Jamalul Kiram III to leave the place and return to Tawi-Tawi, said the leader of the Sulu sultan’s so-called “royal forces.”

Raja Muda Agmibuddin Kiram said he was told that the helicopter arrived in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town at about 10 p.m. and dropped the flyers.

“The message was written in Tausug. It was discouraging the Tausugs who are here with us,” Raja Muda told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a mobile phone interview.

“But we will not leave this place. We are ready to defend what is rightfully ours,” he added.

However, he said he himself did not see the helicopter nor heard the sound of it hovering over the area.

Raja Muda denied that there were children who went with them when they occupied the village on Feb 9. But he said eight women were with them to join their husbands.