KUALA LUMPUR: At least 13 fighters part of an armed Filipino cult that had taken up positions on a remote part of Borneo were killed by Malaysian troops in an effort to reclaim the area, police and military sources confirmed to Bikyanews.com on Thursday morning. On Wednesday evening, Malaysia's Defense Minister Zahid Hamidi reported that the troops are continuing to search areas of Borneo in search of any remaining “militants.” There are fears that more violence could result in further deaths. Police said most of the estimated 200 militants appear to have fled into the surrounding farmland after Malaysia on Tuesday launched air strikes and sent hundreds of soldiers to drive the fighters out of the area. Malaysia had threatened “drastic action” earlier this week against those taking up positions, and it appears that they have moved with full force. We want them to surrender immediately. If they don't, they will face drastic action," Hamza Taib, police chief of the Malaysian state of Sabah where the drama was taking place, said. He declined to provide details of what security forces had in store but his comments echoed growing Malaysian impatience with the situation. Philippines President Benigno Aquino has called on members of a clan occupying a Malaysian village to surrender to avoid further bloodshed. He told the group to “surrender now without conditions", a day after 12 members of the clan and two Malaysian police officers were killed in clashes. The Muslim clan from the Philippines is demanding recognition as the rightful owners of Sabah province. Malaysia threatened to take “drastic action" unless the group surrender. Around 180 followers of Jamalul Kiram III, one of several people claiming to be the Sultan of Sulu, sailed from the southern Philippines on Feb. 12 to press their claim to the Malaysian state of Sabah, catching both Philippine and Malaysian authorities by surprise. Malaysian forces have surrounded the group at a coastal village in the Lahad Datu district in an increasingly tense stand-off. President Aquino warned Tuesday of a rising danger of clashes with Malaysian security forces. So far, the self-styled Royal Sulu Armed Forces have insisted they will remain to press their century-old case for sovereignty of the area. Filipino workers in Malaysia told Bikyanews.com that they believe the idea is “stupid and shouldn't have gotten this far." One man, Luis, said that “if this were really a serious claim and not some random crazy person, he would have been removed, but it is a crazy person who is trying to lead the countries to anger each other." Filipino and Malaysia diplomats have agreed to try to resolve the stand-off peacefully, and Aquino said the Philippine navy has taken steps to prevent more of the clan's followers arriving in Sabah. The Philippines also sent a navy ship over the weekend to the waters off Sabah, carrying Muslim clerics and medical personnel to help evacuate the Filipinos who joined the expedition to Sabah. The siege threatens to ruffle relations between Malaysia and the Philippines, and Filipino officials worry that the incursion could also destabilize a fragile peace process now under way in strife-torn Muslim areas of the predominantly Christian Philippines. BN
