KL plans relocating remote islanders

KL plans relocating remote islanders

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has proposed evacuating the inhabitants of nearly 100 remote islands off northeastern Borneo to protect them against Muslim rebels from the southern Philippines, Malaysia's defense minister said on Thursday.

Najib Tun Razak said police and military officials would survey the islands to decide whether the Abu Sayyaf rebel group poses enough of a security threat to warrant relocating these islanders elsewhere.

Defense authorities have deployed hundreds of troops to guard more than a dozen islands off Borneo after Abu Sayyaf members trespassed into Malaysia for the second time this year and abducted three Malaysians from a remote diving resort Sept. 10.

The separatist group, which claims to be battling for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, previously stormed another Malaysian resort in April and kidnapped 21 people, including foreign tourists.