According to The Star Online, Ismail said the gunman was killed in a shootout at about 8am as he attempted to slip through a tight security blockade in Kampung Tanjung Batu.
But the IGP admitted that there was no sign yet of Agbimuddin Kiram, the brother of self-proclaimed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III who led the armed rebel group to Sabah on February 9.
“We believe they were trying to avoid security forces by moving between both villages,” he was quoted as saying, referring to Kampung Tanjung Batu and Kampung Tanduo.
Ismail added that the remaining members of Agbimuddin’s group were thought to be moving about in pairs or in small units.
Armed Forces chief Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin explained that following Tuesday’s aerial attacks by Malaysia’s air force, the group of gunmen managed to escape from Kampng Tanduo to Kampung Tanjung Batu due to the rugged terrain, The Star Online reported.
Malaysia launched an all-out assault on the Sulu group on Tuesday morning, using fighter jets to rain down heavy artillery fire and bombs on the now-beleaguered Kampung Tanduo where the men were hiding.
After the air strike, ground troops moved in for the “mopping up” operations, going from door-to-door and advancing slowly over the uneven terrain surrounding the coastal village to hunt down the armed militants.
Spokesman Abraham Idjirani said the family wants Malaysia to permit foreign journalists, including those from the Philippines, to enter the conflict zone in Lahad Datu, Sabah, to confirm the Sulu death toll.
“You must allow the foreign and local media into the conflict areas to verify their claims. Until that is done, everything is subject to debate,” he was quoted in The Philippine Star as saying yesterday.
Idjirani, who was speaking on behalf of Jamalul, said information received from Agbimuddin confirmed that only 10 of the “royal” Sulu army have been killed since Malaysia launched attacks last Friday.
“We call it the March 1 Massacre,” he was quoted in Philippine network ABN-CBS News as saying.
In an ABN-CBS News broadcast yesterday, Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez said the government was still trying to verify the number of Filipino casualties in Sabah, saying they could only rely on information offered to them by the Malaysian authorities.
Agbimuddin last contacted his family in the Philippines at 2.30pm yesterday, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, saying he and his men were still alive and on the run but were suffering from hunger.
The daily reported Agbimuddin as saying that his forces have regrouped and have successfully been evading the relentless assault by Malaysian security forces, who are still advancing on them slowly in the rugged terrain.
“They are constantly moving, not by boat, not by any means of transportation but by themselves.… They are on foot.… They are suffering from hunger,” Idjirani was quoted as saying.