Malaysian police on Friday rounded up 79 people in Sabah for their suspected links to the sultan of SuluÂ’s attempt to retake the territory as crack troops and fighter jets continued an assault to end a confrontation with the sultanÂ’s armed followers trapped in two villages in the eastern Malaysian state. Federal police chief Ismail Omar said the arrests had all happened in areas outside the battle zone where Malaysian forces were chasing the followers of Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III.
The crackdown on suspected allies of JamalulÂ’s supporters is part of the Malaysian governmentÂ’s aggressive response to the incursion into Sabah by AgbimuddinÂ’s group. 60 people, 52 of AgbimuddinÂ’s fighters and eight Malaysian policemen, have been killed in fighting since March 1.
A radio station reported that explosions from howitzer attacks were heard starting at 6:45 last night, hours after Malaysian F-18 Hornet fighter jets dropped bombs on an area in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town where the Sulu sultanÂ’s followers had been on the run since Tuesday.
Jamalul on Thursday declared a “unilateral ceasefire” and offered an exchange of prisoners after air strikes and heavy artillery attacks by Malaysian forces scattered his followers on Tuesday. But Malaysia turned down the ceasefire offer and demanded that Agbimuddin and his men give up unconditionally or be killed.
The fate of Agbimuddin remained unknown as Malaysian elite military and police teams went into the final stage of search and mopping-up operations on Thursday at Tanduao and Tanjung Batu villages where the last of JamalulÂ’s followers had been cornered.
A “brigadier general” from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), identified only as Musa, was among the 32 killed in a fire fight with Malaysian troops in Tanjung Batu on Wednesday.