Pentagon leader’s trusted aide slain

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Army soldiers gunned down yesterday another trusted follower of Pentagon kidnap gang leader Tahir Alonto, just two weeks after government agents bagged Alonto’s "right-hand man," who is now helping authorities track him down.

The slain kidnapper, Commander Kambali, long wanted for more than a dozen kidnappings, extortion and drug trafficking, was killed in a firefight with combined elements of the Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade and 6th Infantry Division.

Brig. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala, commander of the 301st Infantry Brigade, said Kambali and his men first opened fire on the soldiers patrolling near their hideout in Barangay Lumabao in S.K. Pendatun, Maguindanao, triggering a running gunbattle. — John Unson