Suspected Sayyaf rebs attack gov’s jeepney; 3 killed, 6 hurt

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Three people, including a two-year-old girl, were killed and six members of a civilian militia unit were wounded when suspected Abu Sayyaf members opened fire yesterday on a passenger jeepney owned by the governor of Basilan, authorities said.

Meanwhile, four militiamen, two communist guerrillas and a nine-year-old schoolboy were slain in a gunbattle that broke out after the insurgents ambushed a government patrol in Makilala, North Cotabato last Thursday.

Basilan police chief Bansali Jabarani said the two-year-old daughter of a soldier, the wife of a jail guard and the third victim, still unidentified, were killed when about 30 Abu Sayyaf rebels attacked the jeepney near Upper Mangas in Lantawan, Basilan shortly after dawn.

Jabarani said the six wounded included a soldier and five members of a civilian militia unit outfitted to guard against attacks by the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group which has been linked to the international terrorist network al-Qaeda.

Officials initially reported the ambush was the result of a family feud but Jabarani said the attack on the jeep owned by Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar was led by Hamsiraji Sali, an Abu Sayyaf commander.

The governor was not in the jeep at the time of the attack.

Col. Hermogenes Esperon, commander of military forces on Basilan, said his troops were hunting down the attackers.

The Abu Sayyaf holds three hostages on Basilan: American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipina nurse Deborah Yap.

US military personnel are currently preparing to widen a training regime to help the Philippine military fight the Abu Sayyaf.

Slain in Thursday’s ambush in Makilala, North Cotabato were four militiamen, two guerrillas and a schoolboy, according to Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

The militiamen were killed in the first salvo but the rest fought back, killing two of the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels. The eight-year-old boy, who was walking to school, was felled by a stray bullet.

The guerrillas fled as military reinforcements arrived, Ando said.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, chief of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command, urged local officials in Basilan’s six municipalities to settle all family feuds within their respective jurisdictions.

"If these feuds are not immediately settled, many innocent people will become victims," Cimatu told mayors and councilors during a meeting. — Roel Pareño