Kin of Eid'l Fit'r ambush victims urged to avoid vengeance

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – Officials on Wednesday urged relatives of the 23 fatalities in the Eid’l Fit’r ambush in Sulu to refrain from retaliating now that criminal charges have been filed against the culprits.

The regional peace and order council of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, chaired by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, also called on local officials in Sulu to help secure prosecution witnesses.

The ARMM’s regional police, in a report to Hataman’s office here, said 69 members of the outlawed Abu Sayyaf have been charged in connection with the ambush.

Among the suspects police investigators identified in the complaint sheet were notorious Abu Sayyaf leaders Idang Susukan, Tawing Umair, Sibih Pisih, and Ustadz Igasan.

Hataman and his regional executive secretary, Laisa Alamia, had separately appealed to relatives of the victims to cooperate with prosecutors.

“We are also appealing to them to do away with retaliations for it can only complicate things and create more problems,” Hataman told reporters.

Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, director of the ARMM police, said Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan, Jr. and the provincial police office are  coordinating to  prevent any outbreak of hostilities between the ambushers and the families of July 28  Talipao ambush victims.

The victims were on board an old Tamaraw Jeepney on their way to the town proper of Talipao for an Eid’l Fit’r gathering when the ambushers, positioned at one side of the road, opened fire with assault rifles and shoulder-fire grenades.

More than a dozen were killed on the spot, while many others succumbed while being treated in hospitals. The attack also left more than a dozen other passengers wounded.

The criminal charges against the suspects were filed on Monday by the Sulu police office at the provincial prosecutor’s office.

Delos Reyes said security has been tightened in Sulu following the filing of multiple murder, frustrated murder, and multiple frustrated murder cases against the 69 Abu Sayyaf members.