Malaysian forces in Sabah in bizarre stand-off with 'royal army' of Sulu

About 100 armed men holed up in a village in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah have identified themselves as the "royal army" of the Sultanate of Sulu in the southern Philippines, adding more mystery to an already bizarre border stand-off.

The group had been cornered since Thursday by security forces near the coastal town of Lahad Datu, in the Malaysian state of Sabah, on Borneo island.

Although Malaysian officials initially said the men were probably members of a Philippine Muslim rebel group, the Malaysian police chief said on Thursday that the group had identified themselves as troops of the Sultanate of Sulu, a string of islands in the southern Philippines that has a historic claim to Malaysia's Sabah state.

The sultanate has no known armed forces, and there are several claimants to the throne.

"We have sent a team to negotiate with them. Discussion is proceeding well and we have told them to leave Sabah peacefully, as we do not want any situation which can threaten the security of the people," police chief Tan Sri Ismail Omar said.

He said the group had agreed to leave Sabah once their demands were met, without specifying the demands.

"So far, the situation is not tense and they appear to be behaving well," Omar said.

The Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur has sent a team to Sabah to co-ordinate with local authorities and determine the identities of the men.

Malaysia pays a token amount to the sultanate of Sulu each year to "rent" Sabah state - an arrangement that stretches back to British colonial times.

Omar was quoted as saying the militants had declared themselves followers of "a descendant of the sultan of Sulu". He said the group demanded to be recognised as the "Royal Sulu Sultanate Army" and insisted that as subjects of the sultanate, they should be allowed to remain in Sabah, according to the website of The Star newspaper.

"They have made known their demands, while we have told them that they need to leave the country," the police chief was quoted as saying, adding that negotiations with the group were still under way.

Earlier on Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying police were negotiating with the gunmen "to get the group to leave peacefully to prevent bloodshed".

The report said a security ring comprised of Malaysian army and naval forces had surrounded the "heavily armed" group.

The Sulu sultanate, founded in the 1400s, was once a regional power centre, controlling islands in the southern Philippines and parts of Borneo including Sabah until its demise a century ago.

Security on Sabah's coast has been a problem for Malaysia, with tens of thousands of Filipinos believed to have migrated illegally to the state over the past few decades from the adjacent southern Philippines.

People continue to move freely across the maritime border to the area from the southern Philippines, which has been racked for decades by Islamic separatist insurgencies and other lawlessness.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse