1 March 2013
Last updated at 07:00 GMT
Malaysia pays a token rent for Sabah to the sultanate each year
'Shots fired' at Sabah stand-off site in Malaysia
Malaysia pays a token rent for Sabah to the sultanate each year
Shots
are reported to have been fired at a village in Malaysia's Sabah
province occupied by a Philippines clan which says the land belongs to
them.
The clan say Malaysian police opened fire on them, but Malaysia's home minister said it was the police which had come under attack.
The group support a Muslim sultan and say the land is historically theirs.
They set up camp in Lahad Datu, on the island of Borneo, just over two weeks ago.
Malaysian police have so far not commented on the incident.
Malaysia and the Philippines had agreed the stand-off would be ended peacefully, but the occupation has heightened tensions between the two countries over the ownership of Sabah.
Agbimuddin Kiram, who is the younger brother of the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III and is in the village, told a Philippines radio station that police had surrounded them early on Friday and opened fire.
"They are here, they entered our area so we have to defend ourselves. There's shooting already," he told Manila-based DZBB radio.
"We're surrounded. We will defend ourselves," he said, adding that there were casualties on the clan's side, but without giving details.
A spokesman for Malaysia's ambassador to the Philippines said he had spoken to Filipino Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario about the incident.
"The official told the secretary that there was firing in Lahad Datu earlier but there were no casualties and the firing has already stopped," Raul Hernandez told the Philippine's ABS-CBN News.
A spokesman for Philippines President Benigno Aquino told
Reuters that warning shots had been fired when members of the group
tried to breach a security cordon.
But a message was posted on the Facebook page of Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein saying: "I confirm that our security forces have not taken a single shot but were shot at 10am this morning!"
The clan, numbering more than 100 people including at least 30 carrying arms, call themselves the Royal Army of Sulu and say they sailed to Sabah with the sultan's blessing.
The village they are occupying formed part of the Sulu Sultanate - which once spread over several southern Philippine islands as well as parts of Borneo - before it was designated a British protectorate in the 1800s.
Sabah became part of Malaysia in 1963, and the country still pays a token rent to the Sulu Sultanate each year.
Earlier this week, President Aquino urged the sultan to call an end to the "foolhardy act", warning the group would face "the full force of the law" to achieve justice.
"This is a situation that cannot persist," Mr Aquino said in a televised address. "If you are truly the leader of your people, you should be one with us in ordering your followers to return home peacefully."
The clan say Malaysian police opened fire on them, but Malaysia's home minister said it was the police which had come under attack.
The group support a Muslim sultan and say the land is historically theirs.
They set up camp in Lahad Datu, on the island of Borneo, just over two weeks ago.
Malaysian police have so far not commented on the incident.
Malaysia and the Philippines had agreed the stand-off would be ended peacefully, but the occupation has heightened tensions between the two countries over the ownership of Sabah.
Agbimuddin Kiram, who is the younger brother of the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III and is in the village, told a Philippines radio station that police had surrounded them early on Friday and opened fire.
"They are here, they entered our area so we have to defend ourselves. There's shooting already," he told Manila-based DZBB radio.
"We're surrounded. We will defend ourselves," he said, adding that there were casualties on the clan's side, but without giving details.
A spokesman for Malaysia's ambassador to the Philippines said he had spoken to Filipino Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario about the incident.
"The official told the secretary that there was firing in Lahad Datu earlier but there were no casualties and the firing has already stopped," Raul Hernandez told the Philippine's ABS-CBN News.
But a message was posted on the Facebook page of Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein saying: "I confirm that our security forces have not taken a single shot but were shot at 10am this morning!"
The clan, numbering more than 100 people including at least 30 carrying arms, call themselves the Royal Army of Sulu and say they sailed to Sabah with the sultan's blessing.
The village they are occupying formed part of the Sulu Sultanate - which once spread over several southern Philippine islands as well as parts of Borneo - before it was designated a British protectorate in the 1800s.
Sabah became part of Malaysia in 1963, and the country still pays a token rent to the Sulu Sultanate each year.
Earlier this week, President Aquino urged the sultan to call an end to the "foolhardy act", warning the group would face "the full force of the law" to achieve justice.
"This is a situation that cannot persist," Mr Aquino said in a televised address. "If you are truly the leader of your people, you should be one with us in ordering your followers to return home peacefully."
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