Slideshow by RICHARD FALCATAN, DXNO Basilan
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews) – Seven rubber plantation workers were killed while 18 others were wounded in an early morning ambush today in the municipality of Sumisip in the island province of Basilan allegedly staged by the Abu Sayyaf after a local cooperative refused to pay the armed group’s extortion demand.
Katoh D. Taha, general manager of the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative, Inc., said in a telephone interview that the Abu Sayyaf members waylaid the cargo truck carrying rubber tappers shortly before 7 a.m.
Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom), said the ambush staged by 10 Abu Sayyaf members took place at Barangay Sapa Bulak in Sumisip. (Read the full story.)
