ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 7, 2012) – Abu Sayyaf rebels ambushed farm workers in the restive southern Muslim province of Basilan, killing one and wounding at least three dozen others, officials said.
Army Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said the attack occurred in the village of Sapah Bulak in Sumisip town where security forces are fighting Abu Sayyaf rebels blamed for the spate of killings and terrorism in the region.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Cabangbang blamed the Abu Sayyaf for the ambush. He said the farm workers were on a truck when gunmen attacked them.
“The same group was behind the attack and security forces are pursuing the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan. Our operation is ongoing against the terrorist group,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
In July, Abu Sayyaf rebels also ambushed a farm truck, killing at least 6 people and wounding 22 others, in the same village.
Cabangbang said the Abu Sayyaf has been extorting money from farmers who are members of the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Incorporated Development Cooperative. Most of the victims were rubber tree tappers of the cooperative.
The military said the Abu Sayyaf was demanding P50,000 a month from the cooperative. Last year, Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed 5 farm workers in similar attack in the village of Sapah Bulak.(Mindanao Examiner. With a report from Ely Dumaboc)
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