COTABATO CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 02 Feb) Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed a father and his son in an attack in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, officials said Thursday.
Officials said the gunmen fled after attacking Nickson Haraji and his five-year old son late Wednesday near Busbus village in downtown Jolo.
"We are investigating the attack, but initial reports said the man was mistaken by the Abu Sayyaf as a military agent. We still don't know why the boy was killed also," Maj. Gamal Hayudini, chief information officer of the Southern Command, told the Zamboanga Journal.
Latest police reports from Jolo said the elder Haraji was a relative of a top military intelligence official Col. Amilkadra Undug and that the killing was believed to be in retaliation to the government offensive against the Abu Sayyaf on the island, about 950 km south of Manila.
Undug was responsible in the arrest and killings of many senior Abu Sayyaf leaders in Jolo. Hayudini said the slain civilian was related by affinity to the Undug clan.
Abu Sayyaf gunmen have previously attacked and killed dozens of civilians suspected of aiding the military anti-insurgency campaign in Jolo.
On Tuesday, Abu Sayyaf militants also fired two rounds of rifle grenades near a military post in Jolo's Indanan town where troops, from the 53rd Infantry Battalion, are stationed.
There were no reports of casualties, said Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, commander of military forces in Jolo island.
Aleo said troops were pursuing the Abu Sayyaf on the island, but they have split into smaller groups making it more difficult for security forces to track them down, Aleo said.
The latest Abu Sayyaf attack occured just ahead of next week's joint antiterror training exercise between the United States and the Philippines in Jolo.
Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf, blamed by Manila to the spate of killings and bombings in the strife-torn region, as a foreign terrorist organization and offered as much as $5 million dollars bounty for the group's known leaders.
Officials said the gunmen fled after attacking Nickson Haraji and his five-year old son late Wednesday near Busbus village in downtown Jolo.
"We are investigating the attack, but initial reports said the man was mistaken by the Abu Sayyaf as a military agent. We still don't know why the boy was killed also," Maj. Gamal Hayudini, chief information officer of the Southern Command, told the Zamboanga Journal.
Latest police reports from Jolo said the elder Haraji was a relative of a top military intelligence official Col. Amilkadra Undug and that the killing was believed to be in retaliation to the government offensive against the Abu Sayyaf on the island, about 950 km south of Manila.
Undug was responsible in the arrest and killings of many senior Abu Sayyaf leaders in Jolo. Hayudini said the slain civilian was related by affinity to the Undug clan.
Abu Sayyaf gunmen have previously attacked and killed dozens of civilians suspected of aiding the military anti-insurgency campaign in Jolo.
On Tuesday, Abu Sayyaf militants also fired two rounds of rifle grenades near a military post in Jolo's Indanan town where troops, from the 53rd Infantry Battalion, are stationed.
There were no reports of casualties, said Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, commander of military forces in Jolo island.
Aleo said troops were pursuing the Abu Sayyaf on the island, but they have split into smaller groups making it more difficult for security forces to track them down, Aleo said.
The latest Abu Sayyaf attack occured just ahead of next week's joint antiterror training exercise between the United States and the Philippines in Jolo.
Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf, blamed by Manila to the spate of killings and bombings in the strife-torn region, as a foreign terrorist organization and offered as much as $5 million dollars bounty for the group's known leaders.
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