2 Moro rebels arrested in Zamboanga City

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Gunmen strafe bus, truck in Zamboanga village

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2010) – Unidentified gunmen strafed a commuter bus and a private truck on a highway in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said on Monday.

Police said there were no reported casualties in the attack, but the strafing sent a chilling warning that travelers are no longer safe on the road. The attack occurred late Sunday on a village called Tagasilay.

“I told my passengers to duck and luckily no was hurt or killed in the attack,” said Gilbert Denila, driver of the bus owned by Rural Transit of Mindanao.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but it was the second strafing in two weeks in Zamboanga’s highway.

Gunmen also opened fired on a commuter bus in Muti village on July 22, wounding one person. He attack was largely blamed by the military to bandits operating in Zamboanga City.

The latest attack added to the growing concerns of many locals worried about the spate of violence in at least three Zamboanga villages – Mampang, Arena Blanco and Talon-Talon – where bloody clan feuds had already claimed the lives of many people.

A village official on Mampang was killed and his companions injured after gunmen ambushed them July 13 in Zamboanga City.

The ambush came a day after a lone gunman fatally shot a jeep driver who was plying the village route in front of many people. Prior to the daring shooting, gunmen also killed several people and exploded a hand grenade in a house in Mampang.

The attack on village officials occurred just as the local peace and order council was meeting to tackle the spate of killings and gun attacks in Zamboanga. Also in July, villagers discovered three bodies buried in a pit on a village of Mercedes. The cadavers bore stabbed wounds and its faces were covered in packing tape and one of the bodies was said to belong to a Muslim man.

Villagers were also afraid to come out in the open and tell what they know about the killings in the villages fearing reprisals from the criminals. One of the chief suspects in the murders was arrested by the police recently from his hideout in Mindoro province and another suspect surrendered to the police.

More than 100 people had been attacked by gunmen since early this year in Zamboanga City despite the presence of armed soldiers and policemen patrolling the streets. And police called these incidents isolated and government officials were quick to blame the proliferation of illegal firearms and urged authorities to intensify a campaign aimed at collecting these weapons.

Zamboanga has implemented a total gun ban the past years and despite this, the killings still go unabated, but most of the murders were perpetrated by professional killers who are actively operating in Zamboanga. (Mindanao Examiner)

Children's Group Releases Images Of Air Strike Casualties In Southern Philippines

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 11, 2008) – The independent Kabiba Alliance for Children's Concerns in Mindanao has released Wednesday photos of civilian casualties during a military air strikes in the Maguindanao town of Datu Piang where security forces assaulted Moro rebels.

The air strikes on Monday killed seven civilians, including children, according to local officials and President Gloria Arroyo has ordered an investigation into the incident.

The Philippine military blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the fighting, saying, rebels attacked a chopper in the village of Tee, an allegation denied by the group.

Human Rights Probers Attacked In South RP

Lawyer Jose Manuel Mamauag, Commission on Human Rights Director for Western Mindanao, gestures during an interview with the Mindanao Examiner. Mamauag says government militias opened fire on a team of human rights investigators on a remote Zamboanga City village. No one was killed or injured in the attack on Friday, June 20, 2008. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / J. Magtanggol)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 23, 2008) – Government militias attacked a group of human rights investigators on an island off Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said militias attacked three of its investigators on the island of Limaong over the weekend. There were no reports of casualties or injuries, but the attack sent a chilling warning that even human rights investigators are no longer safe in the southern Philippines.

Lawyer Jose Manuel Mamauag, CHR regional chief, said his team, accompanied by a forensic expert from the National Bureau of Investigation were returning to Zamboanga City on board a motorized boat when army-led militias opened fire on them.

“Our team was lucky that no one was killed or wounded in the strafing by government militias, but we will file criminal charges against them,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Mamauag said the CHR team was on the island to exhume the remains of a possible human rights victim. “We still don’t know if the attack on our team was connected to our investigation on the island,” he said.

Early this month, a navy patrol also attacked a group of Muslim fishermen off Taluksangay in Zamboanga City and killing one person. Security officials denied it was behind the attack, but navy soldiers also arrested more than a dozen fishermen on suspicion they were terrorists, village leaders said.

In February, navy commandos and army soldiers also killed seven Muslim civilians and an off-duty soldier in a raid on an alleged Abu Sayyaf hideout in the town of Maimbung in Sulu province.

The military insisted the raid was an operation to rescue kidnapped businesswoman Rosalie Lao from her Abu Sayyaf abductors. The raid resulted to the deaths of seven civilians, including two children, two teenagers, and a pregnant woman.

Two soldiers were also killed while four others were wounded when armed villagers allegedly retaliated.

Human rights investigators denied that there were Abu Sayyaf militants in the village during the raid and accused the troops involved in the operation of plundering the houses of the villagers. (Mindanao Examiner)

Strafing Kills 1 In Davao City

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 5, 2008) – Unidentified gunmen strafed a house in the southern Philippine city of Davao, killing one of its occupant and wounding two more, police said on Thursday.

Police said the attackers sprayed the house as the trio was eating their dinner on Wednesday in the village of Carmen in Tugbok district.

The assailants fled after the attack that killed Marjun Gingging and wounded Marivic Gingging, 14, and local village official Carlito Gingging.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but police suspect the killing could be connected to a long time family feud. (Romy Bwaga)