BASILAN (Mindanao Examiner / June 4, 2012) – Gunmen flagged down and burned a cargo truck owned by the Basilan provincial government after its driver failed to pay extortion money, Filipino authorities said Monday.
It said the gunmen stopped the truck in the hinterland village of Baiwas in Sumisip town over the weekend and demanded money from the driver and his helper. When the gunmen failed to get any money, they torched the truck.
Both the driver and his helper were left unharmed by the armed gang which fled towards the mountainous area of the village.
Authorities suspect the gunmen were members of the militant group Abu Sayyaf or Moro rebels, blamed for extortion activities and kidnappings and terrorism in Basilan.
Just last week, Isabela City Vice Mayor Abdulbaki Ajibon narrowly escaped a motorcycle bomb explosion in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
Police said the explosion occurred minutes after the politician’s convoy passed. Ajibon said he was the target of the attack.
The motorcycle was parked near the house of Isabela City Mayor Cherryln Akbar, whose husband Basilan Congressman Wahab Akbar, was killed in a 2007 motorcycle bomb attack outside the House of Representatives in Manila.
Police said the bomb was placed inside the tool box of the motorcycle which was parked on the side of the road. No individual claimed responsibility for the blast.
Basilan is a known stronghold of Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya, and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels. (Mindanao Examiner)
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