Police Tags MILF Rebels As Behind Zamboanga Attack

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 18, 2008) – Police have tagged the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as behind a recent attack on government militias on a hinterland village in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.

Police said implicated MILF commander Abdulhan Abdulajid alias Mullong in Tuesday attack that killed a militiaman and wounded his son in Curuan district. Security forces were hunting down Abdulajid’s group.

Abdulajid was also tagged as behind the series of extortion activities in Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay provinces. Senior Superintendent Mario Yanga, Zamboanga del Norte police chief, said Abdulajid’s group was involved in criminal activities in the province.

Government and military officials previously blamed the attack on extortionists.
Senior Inspector Ricardo Garcia, Curuan police chief, said the situation is normal in the district. (Erico Rosco)

Militias, Bandits Clashed In Zamboanga City Village

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 16, 2008) – Government militias clashed with bandits Tuesday on a hinterland village in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Village officials said they were verifying reports that one militia was killed in the fighting in Curuan district, but the army has confirmed that one civilian was wounded in the clash.

Security officials said the bandits were extorting money from villagers and that the fighting broke out after gunmen attacked militias guarding the area.

“These bandits have been extorting money from residents in the area and militias clashed with these lawless elements,” said Colonel Santiago Baluyot, commander of an army task force.

Baluyot led soldiers in pursuing the gunmen, numbering about 20, who retreated deeper into the jungle. (Mindanao Examiner)

Police, Troops Mount Operation Vs Highway Bandits Who Killed 5 In Mindanao

PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 29, 2008) – Philippine security forces mounted a massive search for gunmen who robbed a commuter van and killed five of its passengers in Lanao del Sur province in Mindanao, officials said.

Officials said the gunmen flagged down the van late Monday and held up its passengers on a highway near Calanugas town and then killed five of them later.

“We have launched a manhunt against those responsible in the killings. The military is assisting the police in the operation,” Army Brig. Gen. Hilario Atendido, the commander of a military task force in Mindanao, told the Mindanao Examiner.

“Five people were killed in the heist,” he said, adding, more policemen and soldiers have been deployed along the Narciso Ramos highway to protect civilians from further robbery and attacks.

The 180-km long highway connects Lanao del Sur to the province of Maguindanao and is a vital route for traders in Mindanao. It was also the scene of bloody battles between government troops and Muslim rebels in the past.

The bodies of the five men had been recovered on the highway near the town of Malabang. The van was heading to Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur when it was waylaid.

Atendido said no groups or individual claimed responsibility for the killings. “Bandits could be behind this attack,” he said.

Highway robbers and criminal gangs have in the past attacked commuter buses and vans in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte provinces.

Early this month, ten gunmen also opened fire on a Zamboanga City-bound commuter bus in the town of Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte, killing its driver and wounding several passengers. (Mindanao Examiner)

A Wiki map of Lanao del Norte province in the southern Philippines, where bandits raided two villages on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 and seized at least two dozen people.

PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 17, 2008) – Filipino bandits raided Tuesday two remote villages and seized at least two dozen people in the southern province of Lanao del Norte, authorities said.

Authorities said at least 15 gunmen swooped down on the villages of San Roque and Kulasihan in the town of Kolambugan at around 6.30 a.m. and seized the victims.

The gunmen were believed to be members of the so-called Tonda Force, a group blamed by police and military to the series of cattle rustling and extortion in the province. Little was known about the group or whether it has links with the Abu Sayyaf or the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front which is also active in the area.

Other reports said the gunmen also seized several teachers and students at a government school in San Roque.

Security forces were tracking down the raiders and their victims. Police and military gave conflicting number of hostages, but one army intelligence report passed to the Mindanao Examiner said at least 23 members of three families were taken and another report claimed up to a dozen teachers had been abducted.

The motive of the abduction is still unknown.

The Abu Sayyaf is also holding three people since June 8 in the southern island of Sulu and has threatened to behead them if their families fail to pay P15 million ransoms for the safe release of ABS-CBN television presenter Ces Drilon, her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo.

Another cameraman Angelo Valderama was freed June 12 after negotiators reportedly paid P5 million ransom. (Mindanao Examiner)

Gunmen Raid Zamboanga Village

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Troops Hunt Bandits Behind Killing Of 2 Kidnapped Traders In Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Jan) – Government soldiers were hunting down a group of bandits behind the gruesome murder of two kidnapped traders in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Norte, officials said Friday.

Officials said the two men, seized last week, were beheaded. The bodies were discovered by patrolling soldiers two days ago on a remote village in Sibuco town.

The motive of the killing was unknown, although the police and military suspect the victims may have been executed after they failed to pay ransom money. There were no immediate statements from the victims' families.

Officials said no individual or group claimed responsibility for the grizzly murder, but the police tagged a former commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-turned-bandit leader Majid Abdulhaman as responsible for the killings.

“There is an operation in the town,” said Major Eugene Batarra, a regional army spokesman. Aside from bandits, MILF rebels and Abu Sayyaf militants, whose group is tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya, are actively operating in the area. (Mindanao Examiner)