ABS-CBNNews.com reports that Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of Sulu passed away on Sunday morning, October 20, at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City. Reports cite his cause of death as "organ failure." Kiram’s followers engaged Malaysian forces in a bloody confrontation earlier this year in the bid to reassert his clan’s ancestral claim on Sabah.
The report quoted Kiram’s daughter, Jacel, who revealed that her father had also been undergoing kidney dialysis.
The report noted: "Kiram's remains have been brought to their home in Maharlika Village, Taguig City, but the family plans to fly him to Sulu, where he will be buried. If they cannot bring the Sultan to Sulu, he may be buried before 3 p.m. today, following Muslim tradition that a dead relative must be laid to rest within 24 hours of death."
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