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Saturday, March 04, 2006
Basilan mayor shot dead at City Hall
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A lone gunman shot dead the mayor of Isabela City in Basilan shortly after noon on Friday, and investigators are trying to identify the attacker, who was slain by a bodyguard, police said.
Security forces gunned down the assassin who shot dead Mayor Luis Biel and wounded three of his bodyguards as they were leaving City hall to take their lunch in the gun attack that occurred at 12:15 p.m.
Police said they were still investigating the shooting, and could not yet say who ordered the assassination or why Biel was killed.
Biel was already sitting in his car preparing to leave City hall when an unidentified man armed with a pistol fired at his chest, provincial police chief Abdulwahab Karimuddin said.
Biel later died at a hospital, while his bodyguards shot and killed the gunman, Karimuddin said.
Five other people were wounded, but it was unclear whether they were hit in the crossfire, Karimuddin said.
"Knowing that the mayor had so many security guards, it was suicide for (the gunman)," he said.
The gunman was peppered with bullets all over his body and his face and was hard to recognize, Karimuddin added.
Biel recently told Karimudding that he had received death threats from unspecified groups.
Just two weeks ago, angry Muslims protested an impending order by Biel to demolish one of the oldest mosques in Isabela City -- the Ihya Unsunna mosque -- to pave the way for the construction of a market depot.
But it was unclear if the failed demolition of the mosque had any connection with the killing.
Angry Muslims had threatened to attack the island's only Catholic cathedral if the 13-year-old mosque in downtown Isabela City is demolished.
The protesters also tried to storm Biel's house, but they backed out after a group of unidentified men armed with M16 automatic rifles rushed to secure the area.
The al-Qaida-linked extremist group Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for numerous kidnappings, killings and bombings, is also active in Basilan, but the guerrillas have been largely on the run amid continuous operations by US-trained Filipino soldiers. (AP/Sunnex)
(March 4, 2006 issue)
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