Gunmen kill Basilan mayor, aide, hurt 2 others in Zamboanga attack

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Still unidentified men shot and killed the mayor of a Basilan town and an aide, and wounded two others in Zamboanga City on Monday morning, December 6.

Police said Al-Barka Mayor Darussalam Lajid of Basilan and a security aide, Barad Nuruddin, were killed while Akbar Mayor Alih Salih and another aide were wounded in an attack staged at the Seaside of Baliwasan, a coastal village in Zamboanga City.

The victims had just arrived from Basilan past 8 am and were walking towards a mosque from a sea craft when they came under attack, initial reports from Zamboanga City Police Office’s Station 11 showed. 

Mayor Salih and the two security aides were rushed to the Ciudad Medical Hospital. There, Nuruddin was declared dead on arrival.

A furious Basilan Governor Jim Salliman condemned the gun attack, and called on police authorities in Zamboanga to leave no stone unturned as they investigate what could be election-related violence against the Basilan mayors. -Rappler.com

Frencie Carreon is a Mindanao-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship