Misuari aide, kin killed in ambush

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A close aide of detained Muslim leader Nur Misuari was killed along with a relative in an ambush in Indanan, Sulu yesterday morning, police said.

The victim, Abdurahman Jamasali, who served as assistant local government secretary during Misuari’s stint as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from 1996 to 2001, was reportedly walking along with his companions in Barangay Buansa when he was attacked at around 6:40 a.m.

Also killed in the ambush was Jamasali’s nephew Wesher Umma.

Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, ARMM police director, said Jamasali reportedly went to the village to hold a dialogue with “some MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) personalities.”

Police and the military said Buansa, some 10 kilometers away from Jolo, the capital town, is a known area of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which Misuari formerly chaired.

Superintendent Danilo Bacas, spokesman of the ARMM police, said Goltiao has cautioned Jamasali’s relatives from retaliating.

ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampa-tuan, in a text message, condemned the ambush-killing and gave assurance that the Sulu police would do its best to solve the crime. – With John Unson and Cecille Suerte Felipe