3 killed in Zamboanga City shootout

Three people are killed in a shootout Friday, June 19, 2009 at a busy market in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Officials say one of four gunmen opened fire on Malik Akbar, the village chieftain of Muti and his aide Gani at the Santa Cruz market. The attack also left 3 civilians wounded. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Jung Francisco)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 19, 2009) – Three people were killed in a shootout Friday at a busy market in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said one of four gunmen opened fire on village chieftain of Muti, Malik Akbar, and his aide after having lunch at the Santa Cruz market. The attack also left 3 civilians wounded.

Army soldiers who were in the area responded to the shooting and killed the attackers in the exchange of fire, but the second gunman was able to escape.

“We were eating lunch when we heard the shooting and saw the man still firing and we engaged him in a running gun battle,” one soldier, who is a member of the local anti-terror task force, told reporters.

Akbar’s daughter who was also with him said she saw the gunman get off the motorcycle and shot her father. “I saw him pulled out his gun and shot my father without provocation. My father was unarmed,” she said.

Police said it is still investigating the motive of the attack. “We are still investigating this incident. Three people are dead and three others wounded,” said Inspector Joel Tutuh.

Police chief Mario Yanga said they have identified the slain gunman as Zapanta Perez. “We have reports that the gunmen were in two motorcycles,” he said.

The motive of the attack is still unknown, but Akbar’s son, Memet Akbar, was arrested last month after police implicated him in the kidnap-slay of a local farm owner, Doroteo Gonzales. The young Akbar denied the charges against him.

Gonzales, 61, was snatched from his house on April 25 in the village of Buenavista in Zamboanga City and brought to Basilan by his captors. He was beheaded last month after his family failed to pay ransom. His body was not found.

It was unknown if the killing of the village leader was connected to the slaying of Gonzales. (With reports from Jung Francisco and Jonathan Deles)

Sayyaf militants behead hostage in Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 18, 2009) – A farm owner kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants in Zamboanga City was beheaded after his family failed to pay ransom, police said Monday.

Police said the severed head of Doroteo Gonzales was recovered late Sunday in Mangalot village in Akbar town in Basilan province, several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City.

Gonzales, 61, was snatched from his house April 25 in the village of Buenavista and brought to Basilan by his captors. His body was not found, police said.

“We have not found his body. Police in Akbar town are still searching for the body,” Chief Inspector Rolando Democrito told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from Basilan, adding, the Abu Sayyaf was behind the killing.

Gonzales’ captors had previously demanded P25 million ransom and warned his family that they will kill the hostage if ransom is not paid.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf also kidnapped three government teachers Quizon Freires, 28; Janette Delos Reyes, 29; and Rafael Mayonado, 24.

They were on a motorboat returning to Zamboanga from a working break when gunmen intercepted them at sea brought them to nearby Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf demanded P6 million for their safe release and also threatened to killed them if ransom is not paid. The hostages’ families said the government is not helping enough to secure the release of the three teachers.

Late last year, Abu Sayyaf gunmen also kidnapped a hospital nurse and a nursing student in Zamboanga City and brought them to Basilan and were ransomed off by their families several weeks later.

Police said the Abu Sayyaf is also holding a lending firm collector, Leah Patris, seized near Basilan’s Maluso town and a Sri Lankan national, Umar Jaleel, a member of the international peace advocate group called Nonviolent Peaceforce, both were kidnapped in February.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small band of militants blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks and is still holding an Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni who was seized in January in Sulu province. (Mindanao Examiner)

Zamboanga farm owner kidnapped

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 26, 2009) – Troops mounted an operation Sunday in an effort to track down a farm owner abducted by gunmen in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said five gunmen seized Doroteo Gonzales, 61, from his house late Saturday in the village of Buenavista.

“There is an operation to track down the victim. We still don’t know who were behind the abduction,” said Army Colonel Santiago Baluyot, commander of a military task force helping secure Zamboanga City from terror attacks.

The latest abduction brought to four the number of people seized in Zamboanga City since January.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf also kidnapped three government teachers Quizon Freires, 28; Janette Delos Reyes, 29; and Rafael Mayonado, 24. They were on a motorboat returning to Zamboanga from a working break when gunmen intercepted them at sea brought them to nearby Basilan Island.

The Abu Sayyaf demanded P6 million for their safe release.

Late last year, Abu Sayyaf gunmen also kidnapped a hospital nurse and a nursing student in Zamboanga City and brought them to Basilan and were ransomed off by their families several weeks later. (Mindanao Examiner)