Day 2: A Sulu terrorist shot dead in latest firefight

A terrorist member from Sulu armed group was shot dead during the early morning ‘Ops Daulat’ operation by security forces in Felda Sahabat 17 in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the man was dead after having a firefight with security personnel at 6.45am.

“Our security personnel were conducting ‘mopping-out’ operation when suddenly they traced a movement of terrorist in the area. A brief firefight occurred and we managed to shot dead one of the terrorist,” said Ismail.

However, no casualties reported on Malaysian side.

With the development, Ismail added the ‘mopping-out’ operation area by security forces now have been widen into four kilometres square in Kampung Tanduo.

“We believed the terrorists have been moving from place to place to avoid from getting detected by armed forces personnel. However, we are in the good position to encountering them and manning the area completely,” he said.

Ismail advised public to be careful as the Sulu terrorist may disguise as local to evade from being detain by the security personnel.

He however did not disclose the total of Sulu terrorists that were found dead, injured or apprehended and all the information will be revealed after the security operation ends.

Local media, Utusan Malaysia however reported that 30 terrorists from the Southern Philippines were killed during the early morning battle yesterday.

However, the fate of Azzumuddie Kiram who is self-claimed as Raja Muda Sulu is still unknown.