The two were among a group of armed men who killed six fishermen last week during an attack on a trawler near Eleven Islands in the eastern coast of Zamboanga, said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the local police chief.
He said the two men had been identified by a lone witness who hid on one of the trawler’s rooms during Thursday attack. The witness said the gunmen intercepted their trawler and told the crew to jump off the boat and were later shot and hacked with machetes.
“We have filed criminal charges against the two suspects and there is an operation to track down the others involved in the attack,” he said.
The attack was only discovered on Friday after the witness - son of one the victims - who feared the gunmen were still around, managed to sail the trawler back to the fish port of Sangali in Zamboanga.
De Ocampo said attack was connected to a family feud.
Clan war or locally known as “rido”, is common in many parts of the southern Philippines. The U.S. Agency for International Development and think -tank Asia Foundation have said more than 3,000 people have been killed over the past seven decades in family feuds in the southern Philippines.
In Zamboanga City, more than two dozen vengeance killings occurred in recent months in three villages involving Christian and Muslim families. And this is also common in Basilan, Sulu, Maguindanao and other parts of the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Rido can involve disputes among family members or among two or more rival families, pitting neighbors or different ethnic groups against each other. The disputes center on issues of land, money, marriage or political power and involve revenge killings.
The violence increases with each act of retaliation, broadening to include those not directly involved in the dispute, including women and children, according to the Asia Foundation, adding, some feuds lasted for decades. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
2 men in bloody Zamboanga attack arrested
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Zamboanga trader abducted at sea
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 17, 2010) – Gunmen seized a local trader Thursday while traveling at sea in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines where security forces are pursuing kidnappers a Filipino-Swiss.
Police said the victim, Vicente Barrios, was abducted by gunmen after he was intercepted at sea. Barrios was with several companions aboard a motorboat when gunmen on a speedboat intercepted them and seized the trader.
“We still don’t know the motive of this incident. We have dispatched forces to locate the victim,” Chief Inspector Ricardo Garcia told reporters.
The abduction occurred a day after police commandos, backed by soldiers killed one of three gunmen tagged as behind the April 4 kidnapping of Charlie Reith, 72, who was rescued early Wednesday in the coastal village of Labuan.
Police said the slain gunman, Habir Ibno Kais, was with two others who managed to escape, but security forces were pursuing them.
Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the city police chief, said security forces tracked down the trio in the neighboring village of San Ramon and clashed with them.
“It was part of our operation and Kais was killed in the firefight. There is pursuit operation going on to track down the other kidnappers of Reith,” he said.
De Ocampo did not say whether Moro rebels were involved in the kidnapping, but three photos of Reith’s captors the police previously made public showed one of them was involved in the kidnapping of Irish missioner Michael Sinnott in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province in October last year.
Sinnott, 80, was freed two months later in the village of Sangali in Zamboanga City after private negotiators paid huge ransom to the kidnappers, believed to be Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who originally demanded two million dollars for the priest’s safe release.
Authorities said at least 8 armed men stormed Reith’s beach house in Zamboanga City’s Patalon village and seized him. His friend, German national Karl Reichling, managed to fight off the raiders. The kidnappers later demanded P20 million for Reith’s safe release and at one time threatened to cut off his finger if his family does not pay up.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for Reith’s kidnapping. But the military tagged MILF sub-leader Malista Malanca and Abu Sayyaf commander Khair Mundos as responsible for Reith’s kidnapping. Authorities have linked both groups to previous kidnappings and terrorism in Zamboanga.
Kidnappings-for-ransom in Zamboanga City were not uncommon. Many foreigners and wealthy traders had been kidnapped in the past and released after their family paid ransom. (Mindanao Examiner)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Security forces rescue kidnapped Filipino-Swiss in Zamboanga City
A journalist points to an undated police photo of Charlie Reith, 72, a Filipino with Swiss ancestry, who was rescued Thursday, June 16, 2010, on a village called Labuan in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Reith was kidnapped April 4, 2010 by eight gunmen from his beach house in Patalon village in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner Photo - Jung Francisco)Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the local police chief, said Charlie Reith, 72, was rescued in Labuan village and that operations were going on to capture the kidnappers.
“Charlie Reith is rescued and there is still an ongoing operation in the area,” De Ocampo told the Mindanao Examiner.
De Ocampo did not give details of the daring rescue which began at 3 a.m., but he said security forces surprised the kidnappers that led to the rescue of Reith.
It was unknown if any of Reith’s kidnappers were captured by soldiers and police commandos.
De Ocampo did not say whether Moro rebels were involved in the kidnapping, but three photos of Reith’s captors the police previously made public showed one of them was involved in the kidnapping of Irish missioner Michael Sinnott in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province in October last year.
Sinnott, 80, was freed two months later in the village of Sangali in Zamboanga City after private negotiators paid huge ransom to the kidnappers, believed to be Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who originally demanded two million dollars for the priest’s safe release.
Reith, who was kidnapped on April 4, was taken to hospital for medical examination.
Authorities said at least 8 armed men stormed Reith’s beach house in Zamboanga City’s Patalon village and seized him. His friend, German national Karl Reichling, managed to fight off the raiders. The kidnappers later demanded P20 million for Reith’s safe release and at one time threatened to cut off his finger if his family does not pay up.
A video sent several weeks ago by the kidnappers to his friends showed Reith, frail and bearded, reading the ransom demand inside a makeshift tent.
Reith’s father was married to a Filipino woman and his family owns a vast track of land in Zamboanga City.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for Reith’s kidnapping. But the military tagged MILF sub-leader Malista Malanca and Abu Sayyaf commander Khair Mundos as responsible for Reith’s kidnapping. Authorities have linked both groups to previous kidnappings and terrorism in Zamboanga.
Kidnappings-for-ransom in Zamboanga City were not uncommon. Many foreigners and wealthy traders had been kidnapped in the past and released after their family paid ransom. Among those kidnapped in Zamboanga City were Taiwanese, Belgian, German and Chinese citizens. (Mindanao Examiner)