Borneo conflict toll rises to 61 CLASHES between Filipino militants and security forces in Borneo have left 61 people dead, officials say. Police Chief Ismail Omar also announced on Malaysian state television the capture of 79 militia troops out of the 200 that invaded the Malaysian state of Sabah earlier this week. The sultan of Jolo, the Filipino Jamalul Kiram III, declared a ceasefire on Thursday after several days of fighting between his followers and Malaysian troops. In early February, the sultan of Jolo sent his followers to this part of Borneo after learning that his claims on the territory had been left out of the peace pact reached in October between the Filipino government and the Moro National Liberation Front, the main Filipino separatist group. The sultanate of Jolo, established in the 15th century, ceded Sabah to the British North Borneo Company in 1878 and the territory was incorporated into a newly independent Malaysia in 1963, against the wishes of the then-sultan and the Philippines.