Sabah faction shoots five police

Published on 04/03/2013 01:39

Gunmen have killed five 
policemen in Malaysia’s Sabah state where members of an armed faction from the Philippines are staking an ancient claim to the remote corner of Borneo island and have been facing off with security forces.

The shootings late on Saturday followed the killings on Friday of two policemen and 12 members of the faction, who are followers of the sultan of Sulu, a south Philippine region, who occupied a Sabah village in February to press their claim.

The occupiers say ownership documents from the late 1800s prove the territory is theirs. They have rejected repeated calls from both the Malaysian and Philippine governments to leave Sabah, a short boat trip from the southern Philippines.