Day 18 of Ops Daulat

Police are investigating the Thursday’s night incident at Kampung Kembara Sakti, in Lahad Datu whereby a house was destroyed in fire.

However, they have yet ascertain if the incident was connected with the terrorist group.

The authority believe that the incident was due to the carelessness by the owner of the house and they have yet to find vital proof linking to terrorists.

Sabah Deputy Police Commissioner, Datuk Tan Kok Lian confirmed the incident but denied any firefight occurred during that night.

Security personnel have been dispatched to the village for security reasons and to assure confidence among villagers on the security efforts.

Until today, 63 terrorists have been killed while 30 bodies were retrieved from the conflict zone.

The casualties among the security personnel are still at 10.

At the same time, National Security Council (NSC) and officers from district office have started to conduct evaluation of the property losses in the affected areas in Lahad Datu.

Meanwhile, Jamalul Kiram III stated that the charges on the eight Filipino men on Thursday for being terrorists and waging war against Yang DiPertuan Agong was ‘illegal’.

According to his spokeperson, the charges were illegal due to the factor that Sabah does not ‘belong’ to Malaysia.

However, his claims were quashed by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abd Gani Patail who said that Jamalul Kiram III will also be charged on the same offences if he comes to Sabah.

Several lawyers and law practitioners also agreed with the charges by the Malaysian government to the eight terrorist suspects brought to the court on Thursday.