ZAMBOANGA CITY – An unidentified gunman ambushed a former Sulu town mayor who was supposed to stand as a key witness to the 2010 suicide bombing at the Zamboanga International Airport that targeted then Governor Sakur Tan and his family.
Police said Ahmad Nanoh, former mayor of Pangutaran town, was fatally shot on Thursday afternoon while driving his pick-up truck in the village of Tetuan. The motive of the killing is being investigated by the police.
Tan and his son Samier – now mayor of Maimbung town – survived the suicide bombing believed masterminded by political opponents of the governor. Two persons had died from the blast, including the man who brought the bomb, while dozens were wounded in the attack.
Nanoh, who had previously challenged Tan’s rule, reportedly wanted to turn witness and tell the police what knew about the bombing. It was unknown whether this was connected to the ambush, but Nanoh himself had been implicated also in the bombing and he wanted to turn state witness and identify those behind the bombing.
Tan, who is now running as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, previously suspended Nanoh in relation to alleged anti-graft acts so that he would not influence the investigation.
Tan’s supporters also accused online news site Rappler of maliciously implicating the politician, who is now the vice governor of Sulu, to supposed death threats that Nanoh had allegedly received following an altercation in 2008 at the domestic airport in Manila. The report, they said, was politically motivated and without basis, and could only muddle the ongoing investigation into the murder and confuse Nanoh’s families.
Tan, a philanthropist and a respected politician, had previously said that he confronted Nanoh for always being absent. Tan said he only defended himself after Nanoh acted as if he was going to attack him. Tan also escaped a roadside bombing in 2009, but the attack wounded him and the mayor of Pandami town Hatta Berto and 9 others who were with him on a convoy. Police said the bombing was perpetrated by Abu Sayyaf rebels and masterminded by Tan’s political foes.
Also 2007, Nanoh’s son Darwin was also killed in a clash with Basit Ismael in Pangutaran town which also left 4 people wounded.
Nanoh’s son clashed with the group of Basit Ismael, who was appointed as new port collector by the Regional Ports Authority of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Apparently the group of Ismael arrived in the town and wanted to take over immediately as port collector, a position held by Nanoh and there was an altercation which ended in a firefight. (Mindanao Examiner)
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