Malaysian minister: Many Kiram followers may have been mercenaries

Many of the followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III who went to Sabah last February may have been mercenaries, Malaysian Defense Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Saturday. Zahid claimed the Philippine government had received similar intelligence information indicating the men who went with the sultan's brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram were "paid," Malaysia's New Straits Times reported. He also indicated a third party may have been involved in triggering the row in Sabah, but said they are still determining those behind it.   "I had met with the Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Department of National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who said they received similar feedback," the New Straits Times report quoted him as saying.  He said the armed Kiram followers carried weapons regularly, some of them not leaving home without the firearms. He said they "carry machine guns like we carry hand phones." As for those instigating the Sabah "attacks," Zahid said they "could be from either one, or both Malaysia and the Philippines." But a separate report on state-run Bernama news agency quoted Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as saying the intelligence reports "could also involve the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, (Moro National Liberation Front chairman) Nur Misuari group, politicians or terrorists." No kill plot vs Kiram Zahid refuted claims by the sultan's camp that a Malaysian colonel is leading a team to kill him. "Our commandos were not sent to the Philippines to assassinate him and we have no plans to do so. ... We are not as wicked as him to commit killings after intruding into another country," he said, according to the New Straits Times. Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will announce the setting up of a Royal Commission on Inquiry on the Sabah incident. A separate report on The Star Online quoted Hishammudin as saying Najib will announce on Monday the details of beefed-up security at Lahad Datu. Hishammuddin said the ministry had been working closely with the Philippine National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and Special Branch on the exchange of intelligence on the Lahad Datu incursion. Agbimuddin citizenship Meanwhile, Zahid said Agbimuddin was a Malaysian citizen who had worked as a civil servant in Sabah, serving as an assistant district officer in Kudat under the administration of Sabah chief Minister Tun Datu Mustapha Datu Harun. The New Straits Times said Mustapha was chief minister between 1967 and 1975. "He was given Malaysian citizenship during Tun Mustapha's time ... However, I can't say whether he is still a Malaysian citizen now," Zahid said. — LBG, GMA News