|
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
13 dead, dozens wounded in village attack
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Gunmen attacked a coastal village in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding two dozens more, the police and military said.
Police believed the attack on the village in Alicia town was triggered by a clan war.
"Security forces are now tracking down the gunmen," said Zamboanga Sibugay Provincial Police Office director Superintendent Roseller Arieta, clarifying previous reports placing the fatalities at 11.
Police said many of the wounded were brought to different clinics in the province.
Two teams of soldiers from the Army's 1st Infantry Division were sent to the town of Alicia to pursue the raiders, a regional military commander, Brig. General Gabriel Habacon, said. "Troops were sent to the area to hunt down the perpetrators of this terrible act," Habacon said.
Habacon confirmed that more than two dozens of people were wounded in the attack on La Paz village. "Those killed in the attack were mostly Muslims," he said.
He said the raiders, which were onboard three motorboats, opened fire at the rows of houses in the village using automatic weapons and then sped away.
Many of the victims were relatives of slain village chieftain identified only as Tismal, who was also killed by unidentified gunmen in April. Tismal's group was implicated in the killing of two Muslims, one of whom was identified as Latip, last week, Habacon said.
The US Agency for International Development and the Asia Foundation said more than 3,000 people were killed over the past seven decades in family feuds, locally known as rido, in the southern Philippines. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(June 29, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
