Civilian killed, village chieftain wounded in Basilan attack

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 20, 2010) Gunmen shot and killed a civilian and wounded a village chieftain in an attack Wednesday in the restive province of Basilan in the southern Philippines, police said.

Police said the victims were driving a motorcycle when the gunmen attacked them in Sengal village in Lamitan town. It said the driver of the motorbike, Jamrud Kuranding, was instantly killed in the attack while the village chieftain Jainudin Dulla is wounded and rushed to a private hospital in nearby Zamboanga City.

“There is an investigation going on,” said Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the regional police chief.

Dulla is the chieftain of Balas village also in Lamitan town and the attack occurred ahead of Monday’s village polls in the country. It was not immediately known if the attack was connected to political rivalry or not.

Just early this month, motorcycle gunmen also killed a poll official, Entong Musa, in Basilan’s Isabela City.

Musa, an election officer in Tuburan town, was fatally shot on October 2 as he was walking in San Rafael village.

Basilan is one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region where elections are traditionally violent. The province, just several nautical miles of Zamboanga city, is also a hot bed of Abu Sayyaf insurgency. (With a report from Jun Bernardo)