MILF leader, aide killed in ambush

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - Unidentified armed men killed a high-ranking official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and his aide in an ambush near a Muslim community in Barangay San Isidro this city last Thursday night, police said.

Superintendent Conrado Laza, the city police chief, identified the victims as Ustadz Hussein Siddik, a member of the MILF's political affairs committee and chairman of the Rajah Buayan Revolutionary Committee, and his driver-bodyguard, Abel Alaba alias Jaber.

Laza said Siddik and Alaba were on their way to Sitio Darussalam in Barangay San Isidro aboard a red Hyundai XL sedan when they were waylaid at about 6:45 p.m. They died on the spot from gunshot wounds in the head.

The ambush happened along a dimly lit portion of Aparente street, just 50 meters away from the village center and mosque.

Laza, quoting several witnesses, said a white L-300 van, with at least five men on board, was seen near the ambush site before the incident.

The witnesses said the van disappeared immediately after the killing. "The suspects possibly waited for the victims in the area," Laza said, adding there are indications that the gunmen are shooting experts.

A relative of Siddik, who requested anonymity, told The STAR that his killers might be members of an anti-Moro vigilante group in the area.

He claimed that several days before the killing, Siddik and other Muslim leaders received death threats purportedly from vigilante groups.

"They (vigilantes) have declared (that they would) retaliate against the series of bombings and rebel attacks in the area by executing our leaders," the source said.

The police, however, refused to confirm the claims of Siddik's relative pending a deeper investigation.

Laza admitted that probers have been having a hard time in probing the ambush because the families of Siddik and Alaba have refused to cooperate with them.

After the killing, Laza said the victims' relatives immediately buried the bodies and barred probers from taking vital pieces of evidence and conducting the initial investigation.

Laza said his men recovered only 10 empty shells at the ambush site.

Meanwhile, the MILF refused to pinpoint any suspects, but said it will conduct its own investigation into the incident.

Eid Kabalu, a member of the MILF technical committee, said they have identified the possible killers, but will not reveal their identities until they have completed their own investigation.

Siddik, a known Muslim religious leader in the area, became prominent in 1997 when he helped negotiate the release of a kidnapping victim, Pelsy Yaphockun, in Polomolok, South Cotabato.