Two policemen were injured in gunfights with militants on Sunday as more than a week-long of deadly clashes between police and the Filipino intruders in Malaysia's Sabah state takes its toll on civilians.
Authorities said the policemen were shot by gunmen in overnight skirmishes as militants showed no signs of backing down.
The militants had come in a group of more than 180 who arrived in the east coastal town of Lahad Datu in Sabah from southern Philippines on February 9 to claim territorial rights to the land.
They were followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III who insisted Sabah belongs to his sultanate.
Police on Sunday raised the number of people they arrested under suspicion of sympathizing with the militant to 85 from 79 Saturday night.
Authorities said they are concentrating efforts to hunt down the militants holed up in Kampung Tanjung Batu and Kampung Tanduo by launching airstrikes and sifting them out house-to-house.
Police said some of the militants were found to be posing as civilians.
Villagers were seen fleeing the two villages in droves on Sunday morning when clashes have temporarily petered out.
Some of them told reporters that many of the thousands trapped in the coastal villages were in need of food and medical supply.
Malaysian forces and the Filipino militants have been fighting since last Friday in an intense standoff that left at least 61 people dead, including eight Malaysian policemen.
The latest casualty was a gunman killed by police on Saturday.
Malaysia began an all-out raid codenamed "Sovereign Operation" on Tuesday that included airstrikes and ground assaults on several areas aiming to flush out the militants.
Thousands of Filipinos were believed to have fled Sabah for their home country since violence broke out.
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