Aquino urges Filipinos in Sabah to surrender

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has called on members and followers of a Muslim royal clan who occupied a village in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, saying it is their ancestral homeland, to surrender to avoid further bloodshed.

Aquino said on Saturday in a message to the group led by a brother of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of the southern Philippine province of Sulu that they should “surrender now without conditions”.

Twelve Filipinos and two Malaysian police commandos died in a clash on Friday between Malaysian police commandos and about 200 members of the clan led by Agbimuddin Kiram.

There was no immediate comment from the Kiram family.

A Kiram spokesman says the Sultan’s brother was not hurt in the clash. The Kiram group entered the Malaysian village three weeks ago.