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Thursday, June 08, 2006
1 killed, 2 wounded in Sulu carnival attack
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Gunmen, clad in police uniform, opened fire at a carnival in the southern Philippine island of Jolo and killed one person and wounded two more, officials said Wednesday.
Officials said prior to the attack, unidentified men also tried but failed to blow up an Evangelical church on the island, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
"Authorities are still investigating the motives of the attacks," said Captain Jose Ritche Pabilonia, spokesman for the military's Southern Command.
He said the attack at the carnival killed Rosalino Fabian, 25, a native of Zamboanga del Norte province, and wounded Monico Maywila, 27, and Rommel Romero, 30, both from Zamboanga City. The three, all carnival workers, were sleeping when the gunmen attacked them on the village of Danag in Patikul town on Monday.
The killing came just a day after unidentified men lobbed a grenade at the Protestant church in Campo Islam village also in Patikul. "It did not explode," Pabilonia said.
He said no group claimed responsibility for the twin attacks, but suspicion fell heavily on the Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda terror network, which is threatening to strike on US targets on Jolo.
A powerful landmine explosion Tuesday killed two government soldiers on the neighboring island of Tawi-Tawi, also a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.
The soldiers were sent to pacify two warring clans in the village of Datal in Sapa-Sapa town when the explosion occurred. It was not immediately known if the bomb was deliberately detonated or not or whether it was the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf.
The blast coincided with the medical mission of the US Navy hospital ship Mercy in Jolo.
Earlier, media reports said Khadaffy Janjalani, the leader of the Abu Sayyaf group, and two Jemaah Islamiya bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both linked to the 2002 Bali attacks, were spotted in Jolo and were allegedly plotting to strike against the USNS Mercy.
Filipino and American troops were tightly guarding the 272.5-meter-long USNS Mercy off Jolo island. Muslim villagers have volunteered to protect the ship and its crew from possible attacks by Abu Sayyaf militants, said Major General Gabriel Habacon, commander of military forces in this southern region.
A US Orion spy plane was spotted flying over Jolo as troops tightened their guard on the main island where hundreds of poor Muslim villagers were screened by local health workers before they are allowed to board the ship.
Habacon said the reports of the sighting were unconfirmed.
The USNS Mercy is configured with state-of-the-art medical equipment and a robust multi-specialized medical team of uniformed health care providers capable of providing a wide range of services ashore as well as on board the ship.
Filipino and civilian medical professionals and nongovernmental organizations are also working side-by-side with US and Philippine military forces. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(June 8, 2006 issue)
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