Malaysian police said they shot dead two alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group early on Friday on an oil palm plantation in the east of the country. The shoot-out took place near Sandakan on the coast of the Malaysian part of Borneo, a short speedboat ride across the Sulu Sea from the group's southern Philippine stronghold, dpa reported. Hazani Ghazali, police chief in the Malaysian state of Sabah where Friday's shootings took place, said the militants planned to kidnap local plantation owners for ransom.