KOTA KINABALU: A Malaysian soldier was shot dead while he and his team were looking for two wounded intruders following a shoot-out with security forces at Kampung Sungai Nyamuk, Lahad Datu on March 12 last year, the High Court heard yesterday.
Company commander Major Mohd Sukri Ismail of Company A, 7th Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment said in the midday incident, Private Ahmad Hurairah Ismail was fatally shot on his right eye while he and his team were moving towards an undergrowth where the two wounded intruders had escaped to after the shoot-out that morning.
“I was arranging my men in a standard line (lying on their stomachs) and facing the intruders’ location.
“After all of my men were in position, I instructed them to get up and move forward to start the search for the intruders.
“Suddenly, I heard a gunshot from the opposite direction and I heard my men shouting ‘Hurairah has been shot’, three times,” he said.
To a question by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff, Mohd Sukri said he heard only one gunshot.
The company commander who was the prosecution’s 28th witness, said that morning between 10.15am and 10.30am, he and his team were surveying the situation at Kampung Sungai Nyamuk when they were fired at.
“I instructed my men to retaliate. The shoot-out ended around 11.30am,” he said.
Ishak: Could you see how many armed intruders were shooting in your direction?
Mohd Sukri: At a distance of 80 metres, there were three intruders. Two of them were firing at us. And at a distance of 100-150 metres, there were two armed men.
Ishak: Did you see what type of weapons they were carrying?
Mohd Sukri: At a distance of 80 metres, one was armed with a pistol, one armed with a long barrel weapon and the other seemed to be holding a sword. The other two, at a distance of 100-150 metres, appeared to be armed with long barrel weapons.
Ishak: During the shoot-out, did you and your team manage to shoot the intruders?
Mohd Sukri: One fell and looked like he was shot. Two were hit and fled unsteadily towards the bushes.
The witness also told the court that during the shoot-out, one of his men, Corporal Khairul Anuar Md Isa was wounded after being hit on the right cheek.
Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case, in which some are facing multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or willfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.
They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.
The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department continues today. — Bernama