Taiwanese man shot dead in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 17, 2010) – Unidentified gunmen barged into a house of a Taiwanese man in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines and shot him dead in what police said was a burglary.

Police said at least three gunmen barged in the house of Tai Guan Te, 54, in the village of Talabaan late Friday after overpowering a security guard. They ransacked the house and shot the foreigner inside his room before fleeing.

Local media report said the foreigner, who was married to a Filipino woman, was shot in the head and did not reach the hospital alive.

The guard and the women were unhurt in the attack and police launched a manhunt to arrest the suspects. The Taiwanese man and his wife managed a small poultry farm in the village, police said.

Police did not release any details about the foreigner or how long had he been living in Zamboanga City. Foreign embassies have previously warned their citizens not to travel to Zamboanga City and in some parts in the southern Philippines because of threats of kidnappings and terrorism.

Zamboanga City has been attacked in the past by the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which bombed civilian targets and in several occasions kidnapped foreigners among them a German canning executive, a Belgian agrarian expert, a Taiwanese matriarch and Chinese traders. (Mindanao Examiner)