Day 17 of Ops Daulat

At late last night, a shootout took place at 11pm in Kampung Embara Sakti, it is believed that the remaining terrorists were being surrounded.

Police refused to comment on the latest incident deferring the statement to Friday morning.

Meanwhile eight Filipino men who are the death penalty and life imprisonment due to offences of waging war against Yang di-Pertuan Agong and being a member of terrorist group have been brought to Tawau High Court to be charged.

The suspects aged between 17 and 66 have been previously charged yesterday in a temporary court in Lahad Datu police headquarters.

No pleas were recorded from suspects but one of them claimed that he was asked and paid by somebody to be involved with the offences.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail led the prosecution team, assisted by the Head of the Trial and Appeal Division, Datuk Nordin Hassan and Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar, both from the Attorney-General's Chambers, Putrajaya.

The court has set April 12 for the case to be mentioned and find out the developments on the Attorney-General's discussion to appoint counsels for the accused. This is whether they would be appointed by the Bar Council, the Philippine government or by the accused themselves.

During a press conference at Felda Sahabat in Lahad Datu, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said a terrorist was shot dead and his female comrade was detained during a firefight with security forces in Tanjung Batu yesterday.

During the incident, a Malaysian soldier was injured after he was wounded by a partial bullet on his finger.

His condition was reported to be stable after undergoing a surgery to remove the bullet.

With the death of one more terrorist, the total killed so far are 63 people and the enemy’s bodies retrieved from the conflict site are now 30.

In the same development , Chief of Malaysian Army General Tan Sri Zulkifeli Md Zin confirmed that the Sulu terrorist head, Azzimudie Kiram has abandoned his comrades since March 11 , fleeing to an island in Southern Philippines.

The ‘mopping-out’ operation in Tanjung Batu by security forces is still ongoing.