Al-Khobar tagged in slay of 2 bus workers

COTABATO CITY – Suspected members of the Al-Khobar extortion syndicate gunned down a driver and conductor of the lone bus company plying the Cota­bato-General Santos route before their passengers in a secluded stretch of a highway in Maguindanao yesterday.

The two gunmen boarded the Cotabato-bound Husky bus in Barangay Salvo, Datu Piang town, stopped the vehicle at a secluded portion of the highway in nearby Guin­dulungan town, and shot its driver, Hoimanni Abdul­lah, in the head with caliber .45 pistols.

The gunmen also opened fire at conductor Joel Jamindang, who was standing near the door, before escaping to a cornfield along the highway.

Both Abdullah and Jamin­dang died on the spot.

A passenger, Rolando Sequia, was wounded in the leg when he attempted to grab the gun of one of the attackers, who was described to be in their early 20s and conversing in the Maguindanaon dialect.

Intelligence sources cited information that the gunmen were Al-Khobar members.

The Al-Khobar has claimed responsibility for the recent bombings of several buses and commercial establishments in Central Mindanao, supposedly to force traders to shell out regular protection money.

The killing of the two Husky employees came less than a week after the North Cotabato police arrested in separate operations four suspected Al-Khobar members tagged in the bombing last November of a shopping mall in Kidapawan City, which killed two and caused serious injuries to 20 others.