ZAMBOANGA CITY – Motorcycle gunmen shot dead a village chieftain in an attack Wednesday in Isabela City in Basilan, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines, police said.
Police said Edrin Awwal, of Kaili village in Al-Barka town, was killed outside a school where he was supposed to fetch his child. Awwal, who was shot several times, died while being rushed to hospital.
The assailants escaped after the shooting. The motive of the attack not immediately known, but police said it is investigating the murder.
Gun attacks are not uncommon in Basilan, a known stronghold of Abu Sayyaf militants and other rebel groups. Hired killers are also active in the province, just several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)
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