KOTA KINABALU: VAT69 sniper teams that were carrying out a close reconnaissance operation at Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu on March 1 last year were given a directive not to fire shots at the Sulu terrorists if they were spotted.
Superintendent Mancha Anak Laga of the General Operations Force’s (GOF) VAT69 Commando said the directive was given by Operations Tactical Commander Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun at a briefing that morning before Mancha and his team as well as the other four teams entered the village to carry out the operation.
“We were not allowed to attack or fire shots at the armed intruders (if spotted) unless we were attacked or shot at first by the intruders,” he told the High Court, which convened at the Sabah Prisons Department, here yesterday.
Mancha was testifying in the trial of 30 people charged with various offences related to terrorism activities in Sabah last year.
When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Abdul Wahab Mohamed in what position were the group of 35-40 terrorists when they shouted at the sniper team (in Malay), “Tiger! Get out of here. This is our land!” before the skirmish erupted that day, Mancha said, “scattered, but close to one another.”
Twenty-two of the 30 individuals jointly being tried, including two Malaysian men, are charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment, and being members of a terrorist group, punishable with life imprisonment and a fine upon conviction.
Of the 22, one faces two additional charges of recruiting members of a terrorist group and harbouring persons knowing that they were members of a terrorist group.
Of the remaining eight, five are accused of being members of a terrorist group; one of them, the sole woman of the 30 and a Malaysian citizen, is charged with harbouring persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group, while two are charged with attempting to harbour persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group.
The rest are Philippine nationals.
They are all accused of committing the respective offences between Feb 12 and April 10, last year.
The hearing, before Justice Stephen Chung, continues today. — Bernama