Zamboanga cabbie shot

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 27, 2010) – A pedicab driver was shot and seriously wounded in an attack Wednesday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said.

The motive of the attack is still unknown, but a police officer said the man was shot in the head and body in the village of Talon-Talon and rushed to hospital.

The attack occurred shortly before 6 p.m.

“He was shot twice – one in the head and another in the body – and we have rushed him to the hospital,” the officer said.

Gun attacks are not uncommon in Zamboanga City with police blaming family feud and clan war in most of the shootings. (Mindanao Examiner)

Village official killed in Zamboanga ambush

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 13, 2010) – A village official was killed and his companions injured after gunmen ambushed them Tuesday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.

The attack occurred just as the local peace and order council was meeting to tackle the spate of killings and gun attacks in Zamboanga. Just this week, villagers also discovered three bodies buried in a pit on a village called 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.

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

The ambush of a village council member in Mampang came a day after a lone gunman fatally shot a jeep driver who was plying the village 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.

“There is something wrong here, there is something lacking here. We have replaced the police chief in that area and the attacks still continue. We need the cooperation of the people to put a stop to these killings,” said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the commander of the local police force.

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.

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.

And legitimate gun owners, mostly businessmen, passed the blame to the police and military for its failure to maintain peace and order and urged authorities to hunt down the killers. (Mindanao Examiner)

Sayyaf Executioner Captured In Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 16, 2008) – Police in Zamboanga City have captured an alleged Abu Sayyaf militant implicated in the beheading of 14 soldiers in the southern Filipino island of Basilan, reports said on Tuesday.

Reports said Abdul Balahim was captured in the village of Talon-Talon over the weekend, but his arrest was not immediately made public for a still unknown reason.

Police tagged Balahim as among those who decapitated the soldiers after security forces clashed with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels on a village in Basilan’s Al-Barka town last year.

Balahim is facing a string of murder charges in Basilan Island. It was unclear how the militant was able to elude government forces in Basilan or how the police tracked him down in Zamboanga City and whether he was planning an attack here.

Local police declined to give any statement about Balahim.

The Abu Sayyaf had previously bombed civilian targets in Zamboanga City over the years and continued its terror campaign elsewhere. Philippine authorities have linked the Abu Sayyaf to both the Saudi’s Al-Qaeda terror network and the Indonesian militant Jemaah Islamiya, blamed for the past bombings in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)