Monday, May 29, 2006
Cop killed in another Jolo attack
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A Muslim policeman was shot dead Sunday by an unidentified gunman in the troubled island of Jolo in the southern Philippines, where security forces were fighting members of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, official reports said.
The latest attack came ahead of the arrival of the United States Navy hospital Mercy for a series of medical missions in Jolo. The ship is still in Zamboanga City and would be heading to Jolo next week.
The gunman fled after the attack in Jolo town, taking with him the policeman's pistol, it said. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the killing, but a spate of attacks on Jolo alarmed both civilians and traders.
At least four soldiers and two civilians were killed the past two weeks in gangland-style executions in the capital town. In March, an Abu Sayyaf bomb ripped through the second floor of a department store in Jolo, killing nine people.
A policeman, Henry Elumbaring, was also shot dead and a civilian was kidnapped and beheaded in February also in Jolo town. And many more killings on the island largely blamed on the Abu Sayyaf remain unreported for fear of reprisals by their relatives.
Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization and offered as much as $5 million bounty for its top leaders, including Janjalani, believed to be the al Qaeda contact in the Philippines. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(May 29, 2006 issue)
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