KOTA KINABALU: A VAT69 commando told the High Court yesterday at the trial of 30 individuals, including a Malaysian woman, charged with various terrorism-related offences in Sabah last year, that the distance between the intruders and his team was just about 30 metres.
Sgt Zulkifli Buang said on March 6 last year, around 3pm, he heard gunshots coming from the direction of DSP Abdul Rani Alias’ team which was conducting a joint flushing operation with a Malaysian Armed Forces team at Kampung Tanjung Batu, Lahad Datu.
“A few minutes later we saw five to six people armed with what looked like rifles, coming towards us,” he said in examination in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed.
Zulkifli said the distance between the intruders and his team which was carrying out a cut-off operation at the village was about 30 metres.
“Our team fired at them simultaneously. Two of them fell to the ground,” he recalled.
Asked whether the fallen intruders were armed, Zulkifli said he could not be sure as he and his team members did not inspect them.
According to him, the situation was tense and the team was precariously exposed to the remaining intruders.
Meanwhile, the witness also told the court that he was assigned to take aerial photographs of Kampung Tanduo after the intrusion in February last year by terrorists from the Southern Philippines.
He said he did not scrutinise the more than 700 photographs he took on Feb 23, 27 and 28 last year and which he transferred from his camera to the computer upon returning to the VAT69 tactical base at Felda Sahabat 16, Lahad Datu.
“I did not study the photos. It was the responsibility of other officers,” he said, under cross-examination by counsel Datuk N Sivananthan. Of the 30 individuals who allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10, 2013, 22 including the two Malaysians are accused of being members of a terrorist group.
They are also accused of waging war on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, for which the mandatory death sentence or life imprisonment awaits them if found guilty.
The case convened before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department continues today. — Bernama