ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY – A government soldier was shot dead on Saturday afternoon near a village in Zamboanga Sibugay province where fighting between security forces and suspected kidnappers erupted, officials said.
Officials said the soldier, a member of the 44th Infantry Battalion, was on his way to Tinan village in Ipil town when he was shot many times by a gunman.
The fighting between security forces and kidnappers under Abral Abdusallam – one of the most notorious kidnap gang leaders in western Mindanao – erupted near the army patrol base.
The fighting broke out after gunmen opened fire on a group of policemen sent to the area to check on reports that a stolen motorcycle was spotted there.
The attack sparked a firefight and there were reports that a police car was torched by the gunmen, believed to be involved in the kidnapping last month of Mayor Gemma Adana, of the nearby town of Naga.
No other details were immediately available, but an army source confirmed the killing of the soldier and said troops were assisting local policemen in pursuing the gunmen.
“There is fighting in the area and one of our soldier was killed after being shot repeatedly by a gunman in the village,” the source told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner. “The soldier was just gathering information about the fighting when a lone gunman attacked him and shot nine times in the body.”
There was no immediate report if any of the gunmen were captured or killed in the fighting, or if the politician was with them. (Mindanao Examiner)
Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoexaminer
Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MindanaoExamine
Read Our News on: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/ and http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/
Share The News
20
