Head of Filipino sultanate that invaded Malaysian state dies

Breaking Gulf News Manila: The leader of a sultanate in the southern Philippines that staged a 2013 invasion of a bustling Malaysian state and sparked a deadly security crisis has died of kidney failure, his family and followers said on Sunday. Sultan Esmail Kiram II died at age 76 late Saturday at a hospital in southern Zamboanga city and left an order for his followers to pursue a claim to Sabah state in neighbouring Malaysia, according to sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani. “One of his instructions was the pursuit of the Sabah claim through peaceful means for the welfare of the Filipino people, ” Idjirani said.