http://news.xin.msn.com/en/world/seven-killed-in-fresh-clashes-in-malaysian-borneo-8#scpshrtu
The new clash in Semporna, 300 kilometres (190 miles) from the site of the three-week standoff, occurred when police were "ambushed" by gunmen during a security sweep, Malaysia's national police chief Ismail Omar told reporters.
An estimated 100-300 Filipinos have been surrounded in a farming village by a Malaysian police and military cordon since landing by boat from the nearby Philippines on February 12 to insist the area belongs to their Islamic leader.
The leader, Jamalul Kiram III, 74, claims to be the heir to the Islamic sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of the southern Philippines and the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo.
Malaysian media also quoted Ismail saying that police were pursuing yet another group of armed men in Kunak, another town in the area.
The fresh developments have sparked Malaysian fears of a possible wider campaign of violence by supporters of the group in Sabah, which has large numbers of Filipino immigrants, both legal and illegal.
Earlier Sunday, Sabah police chief Hamza Taib was quoted as confirming the latest clash was linked to the ongoing seige in the village of Tanduo, which is hours away by road. Reports provided no further details.
Ismail said, however, it remained unclear whether there was any link.
The Sulu sultanate's power faded about a century ago but it has continued to receive nominal payments from Malaysia for Sabah under a historical lease arrangement passed down from European colonial powers.
Kiram's people are demanding Malaysia recognise the sultanate owns Sabah and share profits from economic development in the state.
Following Friday's initial firefight, Malaysian police threatened "drastic action" to clear out the trespassers. Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who has sharply criticised the intruders, also urged them to surrender unconditionally.
But Kiram's spokesman, Abraham Idjirani, repeated on Sunday that his followers would not budge.
He added the sultan would seek US intervention, citing a past agreement with Washington, which controlled the Philippines in the early 1900s.
"(Malaysia) want to hide the truth, that they do not own Sabah. It is owned by us," he said.
The standoff has embarrassed Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak -- who must call elections by June -- by exposing lax border security and fuelling perceptions of lawlessness and massive illegal immigration in Sabah.
His long-ruling government was already on the defensive over allegations that in the 1990s it gave citizenship to possibly hundreds of thousands of illegal Filipino and Indonesian migrants in Sabah in exchange for their votes.
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