Lone Sulu terrorist gives himself up

A Sulu terrorist was detained when he surrendered himself after stumbling upon security forces mopping up the area in Tanjung Batu, here, this evening.

In the incident at about 5pm, a special task force unit of the Armed Forces was conducting an operation in a swampy area before bumping into the terrorist.

The intruder tried to flee but was caught after a chase and he surrendered himself.

The man, believed to be unarmed, gave himself up by raising his hands and asking security forces not to shoot him.

It was learnt that two armoured tanks were rushed to the operation area to continue hunting for other terrorists.

The rush for support was necessary as the decision to surrender could be another ploy to lure security forces into an ambush.

However, after clearing the position, security forces moved in to detain him and was later handed over to the VAT69 team for further action, including bringing him to a temporary lockup, for interrogation.

Army Chief General Tan Sri Datuk Seri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin when contacted confirmed the incident.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the terrorist was now under police custody and a media conference with the Armed Forces would be held tomorrow.

To date, the number of people detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 has increased to 111 while the number of terrorists killed remained at 67 while 42 bodies have been brought out of the operation site.