Nine houses used as hideouts by intruders may be demolished

SEMPORNA, March 10 – Nine stilt houses suspected of being used as hideouts by a group of Filipino intruders in Kampung Simunul water village may be torn down, said village head Ramlee Saraman.

He said unsuspecting house owners could have fallen prey to the group by selling the houses to them without any inkling that they would be used as hideouts.

The group infiltrated the water village and mingled with villagers, who even called one of them, who was killed in an ensuing gun battle an ‘imam’ although he did not have any accreditation, he told a reporter who visited the village, today.

Six policemen and six intruders were killed in skirmishes at Kampung Simunul on March 2 – the first of its kind since it was opened on March 9, 1939.

Ramlee, 56, who became village head in 2006, said if the houses were demolished by local authorities, residents’ confidence would be restored that the village was safe again and no longer a terrorist den.

He said about 1,000 Kampung Simunul residents left their houses following the gun battle. – Bernama