LAHAD DATU, March 17 — One more Sulu terrorist was shot dead by the security forces in the Ops Daulat offensive in Kampung Tanjung Batu here today, bringing the enemy death toll thus far to 62.
Army field commander Lt Gen Datuk Seri Zulkiple Kassim said the security forces came into contact with the terrorists twice so far today, at 9.55am and 10.15 respectively.
“In the 10.15am contact, we managed to kill one of the terrorists while three others escaped,” he told a press conference held jointly with Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib at Ops Daulat’s headquarters at Felda Sahabat 16, at 11am today.
Zulkiple said the security forces were hunting down the three who escaped. “The body of the dead terrorist will only be brought out when it is totally safe to do so,” he said.
He said mopping up operations were still continuing in Kampung Tanduo and Tanjung Labian and that residents who fled the two villages would be allowed to return to their homes once they were declared “white”.
The security forces were also conducting house-to-house searches in the operations area to trace enemy remnants, he said.
Meanwhile, Hamza said the enemy was now believed to moving in smaller groups around Kampung Tanjung Batu.
He urged members of the public to alert the security forces if they came across any remnants of the terrorists.
— BERNAMA
