ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 23, 2013) – Malaysian authorities have captured two important members of the Sultanate of Sulu in separate operations in Lahad Datu town in Sabah where security forces are pursuing the group.
Police said local villagers have tipped off authorities about the two men – one a logistic officer and the other a military strategist – who were part of a 200 loyal followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram.
Authorities said only 50 of the original members of the rag-tag army are being pursued by troops because many of them had been either killed or captured in fierce clashes in Sabah, an island being claimed both by Malaysia and the Sultanate of Sulu.
Malaysia said it killed more than 60 of the sultan’s men and captured over 300 people who were either supporting or aiding the group of Sultan Jamalul, who sent his brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin to Sabah in February to lead the group.
Police said many of those killed in the Malaysian offensive were found carrying amulets or talisman; others had mystic words tattooed on their body believing it would save them from death or give them invincibility and supernatural powers.
But police said many of the sultan’s fighters were not saved by their belief in the supernatural and died from mortar explosions and gunshot wounds.
Mysticism is considered taboo in Malaysia, but in the Muslim provinces in the southern Philippines, many believed in talisman and amulets that supposedly give them supernatural power or ability to be invisible to enemies, among other folktales.
Authorities said Raja Muda Agbimuddin managed to escape the assault in Sabah and has fled to the southern Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi. (Mindanao Examiner)
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