KOTA KINABALU: Two suspected Abu Sayyaf members, believed to have slipped into Sandakan in a bid to kidnap estate owners to fund militant activities, were killed during a dawn shootout. The identity of the two men shot during a 5am raid at the Bornhill Palm Oil Estate at Pulau Timbang yesterday had yet to be ascertained, said Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hazani Ghazali.

       He added that before the shootout, security forces had nabbed seven other Abu Sayyaf members during a special operation between 2am and 4am on Wednesday.

       “The earlier operation saw security forces arresting 25 suspected illegal immigrants, of whom 11 were Filipinos and 14 were Indonesians,” he said.

       He said a further probe found that seven out of the 11 Filipinos were part of the Abu Sayyaf group.

       Eight of the Indonesians were later released after their employers produced their work passes.

       A manhunt was launched the next day after it was found that some members had managed to escape from the first round of arrest.

       Hazani said security forces managed to track down the militants at an abandoned estate and issued warnings to them to surrender.

       “However, they responded with gunshots and that is why our men had to retaliate,” he said, adding that the shootout lasted three minutes.

       Security forces later found the two unidentified men dead.

       “None of our men were injured,” Hazani said, adding that the suspects were in the area to prepare for the abduction of two estate owners in Sandakan and Sukau.

       He said it was believed that the intended ransom sought for the kidnapping was meant to fund militant activities for eastern Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf members in Bud Bawis, Panamao, Sulu.He said the special operation was carried out as a follow-up from a raid at a mangrove near Taman Sri Arjuna in Beaufort district on May 8, during which eight suspected militants were nabbed.

       Five others were shot dead in another crackdown there on May 17.Hazani said a manhunt was still underway as it was believed that there were other militants in the area.

       He said the information that the militants were hiding in Sandakan and possibly other parts of Sabah came from one of the suspects nabbed in the earlier raids in Beaufort.