PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has pledged to rescue a policeman who is believed to have been kidnapped by gunmen during an ambush at Mabul island in Semporna, Sabah.

Mr Najib tweeted: "We will do our utmost to search and rescue Kons Zakia."

He also extended his condolences to the family of policeman Abdul Rajah Jamuan who was killed in the Saturday night incident.

Malaysian security forces are hunting for heavily armed gunmen in Sabah waters, after a policeman was killed and a second kidnapped at the diving resort off Borneo.

The shooting on Mabul island marks a fresh escalation of violence in the remote area, regarded as one of the world's top diving hot spots.

Marine policeman Rajah Jamuan, 32, was killed while a constable identified as Zakiah Aleip, 26, was kidnapped after a shoot-out at the Mabul Water Bungalows Resort at about 11pm on Saturday.

In Kuantan, Mr Najib has called on the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) to add more personnel where necessary to plug any weaknesses.

He added that Esscom had been told to re-evaluate its security system in detail following the attack by Filipino gunmen on Saturday.

"If there is a need to add more personnel, then Esscom has to do it. I have been told that there are not enough security personnel at resorts in the area.

"There are weaknesses in the security placement and planning on the ground in the Esszone. It is the duty of the new operations chief to look into this," Mr Najib said.

Mr Najib said the threat from the heavily armed southern Philippines gunmen was very serious as they could easily ambush and infiltrate Esscom's defences.

"They present a very serious challenge for our security forces as they have insider information. The community there does not recognise boundaries and it can be said they are united," he said.