edisiindonesia.com - Gunmen killed three soldiers in the southern Philippine region in violence that coincided with the new Philippine President's visit to the region to pledge support to Muslim rebel groups over the 2014 peace deal.
There were no signs suggesting that the attack, which occurred at midday in the Basilan Islands province, was related to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s visit to a ceremony in another province in the southern region.
But the assassination underscores the complicated security issues facing the newly elected president, as quoted from VOA Indonesia's website, Friday (16/9/2022)
Marcos Jr., who took office in June, spoke in Cotabato City and pledged to continue supporting the former Muslim rebel leader who is now helping to govern the Muslim autonomous region under the 2014 peace deal.
A group of soldiers were on their way to replace the other troops who ended their turn of guard at an outpost in Al-Barka City in Basilan, when about seven gunmen opened fire and killed three of them, said the provincial military commander, Brig. Jen. Domingo Gobway.
Other soldiers returned fire launched in the brief clashes, but the attackers fled as army reinforcements approached, Gobway said.
The attackers came from a group of criminals separated from the Abu Sayyaf group, a small but violent Muslim militant group, which still exists in Basilan even though the group has suffered setbacks in years of fighting, Gobway told reporters.
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