"No sound ground to Chinese martyr terrorist claim" - Hishammuddin

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has dismissed an open letter from a group, calling itself the ‘China Martyr Brigade’, that has claimed responsibility over what has happened to flight MH370.

“I have seen the open letter. I don’t think there is any sound ground that it is true," the Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister told reporters here Monday.

Hishammuddin was responding from queries on a document which has been circulating among journalists, purportedly originating from China.

The letter, signed off anonymously by one ‘leader of the Chinese Martyrs’ Brigade’, had highlighted grievances of the China’s Uighur minority, criticising the Chinese government.

According to Boxun News, the letter was sent to one "Bei Feng (Wen Yunchao)" a famous Chinese social media personality in New York.

"(He) received a mail in the early morning (3:30am) of March 9th, the letter is in PDF, from an Hushmail account. The email body (in Chinese) says that “this email account will not read and reply mails, only for the purpose of forwarding mails”

Boxun News reported the letter was sent to "Bei Feng (Wen Yunchao)"

However, it was reported that the International media, including those from China, have dismissed the letter has as having little credibility.

Yesterday, the Malaysian authorities said that they were unaware of the claim, saying that the Chinese authorities did not inform them about the matter.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said that the Malaysian authorities are working closely with international intelligence agencies, including US and China, to investigate all angles.

“We will investigate all allegations, but our focus now is to locate the aircraft,” he said, calling on all parties to stop sharing unverified information as it affected not only the investigation and also family members.

When pressed about the two stolen passports and five passengers who did not board MH370, Hishammuddin said that he had met with some intelligence officers on Sunday.

He said that Malaysia has shared information— including the passenger list, background, biometric information, fingerprints and visuals taken from CCTV footages— with them. These information, he said, will be digested by the relevant agencies both local and international.