Bangla2000 | International News -Hostage crisis continues in Malaysia

Local people look at armed personnel carriers arriving at the Sauk town, 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur Wednesday, July 5, 2000. The Malaysian authorities said one armed raider have been injured during the cross fire between Malaysian army troops. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

SAUK (AP) - Members of a gang that raided two military armories fought back a heavy security assault Wednesday and held on to at least three hostages in the jungles of northern Malaysia.

Nearly 1,000 soldiers and policemen manned machine guns and created makeshift bunkers inside the dense forests where at least two gun battles have been fought since Monday night. Residents in nearby villages said they heard sounds of gunfire again on Wednesday morning.

Early Wednesday, security forces had driven the gunmen and their captives to a hillside and had surrounded the hill in Jenalik forests in Perak state, an army officer said on condition of anonymity. The military aimed at forcing the gunmen to surrender.

On Sunday, the gang disguised as senior military officers on a surprise inspection, fooled sentries at two military camps and gained easy entry in the armories. They escaped with more than 100 M-16 and Steyr assault rifles, grenade launchers and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the bases in Perak.

The police are denying that there were any encounters between the military and the armory raiders in the jungles.

But Wednesday's dailies said some soldiers had received gunshot wounds. The Star and The Sun dailies published pictures of one Malaysian soldier being treated for bullet wounds.

The government has not said if it has clues about where the weapons were headed to, but independent military experts say the guns may have been stolen by mercenaries for use by Muslim separatist rebels in southern Philippines or in Indonesia's Aceh province.

Authorities have remained secretive about the operation and often given contradictory information to reporters. While Malaysia's police chief Norian Mai said the gunmen were holding two hostages, Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak said Tuesday night that three people were being held.

Of the three hostages, two were believed to be police intelligence officers who were nabbed while on a reconnaissance mission inside the forest on Monday. The third was a local farmer.

The weekend's raid has shaken Malaysia's security system and raised concerns about the efficiency and alertness of its military.

Some opposition leaders have demanded the defense minister's resignation, while letters to newspapers have called for a security overhaul in the Southeast Asian nation.

"The incident comes soon after a group of separatist rebels in Mindanao, Philippines, kidnapped several foreigners and Malaysians from a Malaysian resort island," wrote Jacob George in Wednesday's New Straits Times.

"It confirms that something has gone terribly wrong with present security systems and procedures," he said.

On April 23, Muslim rebels from southern Philippines nabbed 21 people from the diving resort island of Sipadan in eastern Malaysian waters. One Malaysian has been released, but the rebels are still holding 20 people.