Malaysia Claims It Killed Rebel Muslim General

Rebels deny

Malaysian forces said they killed a top commander of a Muslim armed group from the Philippines that invaded Sabah, a claim disputed by the clan as violence continued in the monthlong struggle over ownership of the commodities-rich state.

Haji Musa, a general from the Royal Army of the Sulu Sultanate, was killed yesterday, Hamza Taib, Sabah's police chief, said in a televised media briefing. Abraham Idjirani, a spokesman for Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram, said by phone that the general was "very much alive."