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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Cop killed, 3 others wounded in Jolo ambush
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A policeman was killed and three others wounded in an attack Tuesday by gunmen clad in camouflage uniform in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, police said.
Authorities said two others were missing and that security forces were tracking down the attackers. It was not immediately known if the missing policemen were taken hostage or had escaped the ambush, but a security team had been deployed to search for duo.
Police officer Ali Akmad, who was slightly wounded, said the attackers stopped him and his colleagues on a road to a village outside Maimbung town on Jolo island, about 940 kilometers south of Manila.
He said he had thought the attackers were soldiers manning a checkpoint.
One officer was killed, two others, in addition to Akmad, were hurt and two were missing in the attack, Akmad told reporters from a hospital.
No group claimed responsibility for the ambush, but the attack came just two days after gunmen also killed a soldier in Jolo.
The island is a known stronghold of the militant Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for the spate of killings of soldiers and bombings in the restive region.
Unidentified gunmen also shot dead three army soldiers in separate attacks in Jolo earlier this month. One of the soldiers was heading home on a motorcycle when two gunmen ambushed him in the village of Kasalamatan near downtown Jolo.
The two other soldiers were ambushed in the village of Anuling in Jolo's Patikul town.
Last month, troops disarmed a powerful Abu Sayyaf bomb planted near the Pitogo Elementary School in Jolo's Kalingalang Kaluang town.
The United States is offering as much as $5 million bounty for known Abu Sayyaf commanders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, and Manila also put up P100 million bounties for the capture of the group's leaders and their members dead or alive. The US included the group on its list of foreign terrorist organizations.
Dozens of people have been killed in gun attacks and bombings on the island since last year. Kidnappings-for-ransom, largely blamed by authorities on the Abu Sayyaf, and clan war are also rampant in Jolo. (Sunnex/With AP)
(July 19, 2006 issue)
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