Civil employee shot in Basilan province

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 3, 2010) – Gunmen shot and wounded a government employee in a daring broad daylight attack Wednesday in the troubled province of Basilan in the southern Philippines, police said.

Police said Nur Aida Magtangob, who works for the Department of Interior and Local Government, was attacked at around 9 a.m. as she was heading to her office in Isabela City.

The attackers fled on a motorcycle after the shooting. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack and police mounted an investigation into the motive of the shooting.

Gun attacks are not uncommon in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, where rebels are actively operating.

On Tuesday, suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels also abducted a woman after stopping a jitney in near the town of Ungkaya Pukan.

Police and military said the rebels headed by Nur Hassan Jamiri flagged down the vehicle and seized Rose Baranda. The motive of the abduction is unknown, but the Abu Sayyaf was linked to many kidnappings-for-ransom in the past in the troubled province, just several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City.

Although no group or individual claimed responsibility for the abduction, the military said Jamiri heads a faction of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

The group was also tied to terrorism in the southern Philippines and is on the top list of the country’s law enforcement agencies. Kidnappings and terrorism are not uncommon in Basilan where dozens of soldiers had been killed in attacks the past years. It was unknown if the Abu Sayyaf had anything to do with the latest attack. (Mindanao Examiner)