Malaysia tells clan to give up

Malaysian police said that two of their security personnel and 12 followers of the little-known sultan of Sulu were killed in the firefight.

The Filipinos landed on the Malaysian segment of Borneo island - which is divided into three - and have since been surrounded by a Malaysian police and military cordon.

"We want them to surrender immediately," the police chief of the Malaysian state of Sabah, Hamza Taib, said on Saturday. "If they don't, they will face drastic action."

Malaysia and the Philippines had previously urged the clan to return home. Officials accused the clan members of initiating Friday's violence, saying they opened fire as police tightened the security cordon around their village, Lahad Datu.

Agbimuddin Kiram, another clan leader, told the Manila radio station DZBB that his members "had to defend ourselves" when police opened fire on Friday. "They suddenly came in," Kiram said.

Long-standing dispute

Numbering at least 100, the Filipinos sailed from their remote islands to press Jamalul Kiram III's claim to the northern Borneo region of Sabah. The 74-year-old claims to be the heir to the Islamic sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of the southern Philippines and a portion of Borneo. The sultanate's power faded about a century ago, but it has continued to receive nominal payments from Malaysia for the territory under a historical lease arrangement passed down from European colonial powers.

Filipino government officials said 10 clan members surrendered to police. The rest had fled, pursued by Malaysian authorities, they said.

‘Surrender now'

Philippine President Benigno Aquino urged the gunmen to surrender immediately.

"To those who have influence and the capacity to reason with those in Lahad Datu, I ask you to convey this message: Surrender now, without conditions," he said in a statement.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that after the shootout he told police and armed forces to take whatever action was necessary to end the impasse.

"Now there is no grace period for the group to leave," he was quoted as saying by Malaysian media.

mkg/msh (AFP, dpa)