The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Philippine mayor among four dead in Manila airport ambush
- Three more remanded after riot
- Fishing union boss shot dead in Japan
| Philippine mayor among four dead in Manila airport ambush Posted: 19 Dec 2013 09:49 PM PST MANILA: Gunmen opened fire outside Manila international airport Friday, officials said, killing four people including the mayor of a town in the southern Philippines, where political violence is endemic. Terrified men and women screamed and cried while a man, apparently fatally wounded, lay face down on the pavement outside the passenger terminal in a video clip uploaded to the local GMA television network's website. "The mayor and his family and some security escorts were attacked," Manila airport general manager Angel Honrado told reporters, adding one of the dead was the mayor of Labangan town in the troubled southern region of Mindanao. Ukol Talumpa, a member of the political opposition, won a hotly contested election for mayor of Labangan in last May's elections, defeating the incumbent who is a political ally of President Benigno Aquino. The official, his wife, other members of his family and their bodyguards were shot at by at least two men as they stepped out of the passenger terminal shortly after getting off a flight from the southern Philippines, Honrado said. Four people were killed and four others wounded in the broad daylight shooting, he said, adding "the mayor and his wife" were among the dead. He said he could not confirm television news reports quoting unnamed eyewitnesses as saying the two suspects were wearing police uniforms. Airport security forces chased after the gunmen but they escaped on a motorcycle in the heavy late-morning traffic outside the terminal, he added. Honrado, speaking alongside Manila police officials at a news conference, said the authorities did not know the identity of the gunmen nor the motive for the attack. The Philippines is infamous for a brutal brand of democracy where politicians - particularly at local and provincial levels - are willing to bribe, intimidate or kill to ensure they win. More than 60 people were killed in last May's elections, when 18,000 posts from provincial governor to town and city mayors as well as city and town executive councils were contested. In the footage obtained by GMA, which it said was taken by a bystander, spilled luggage and trolleys lay scattered on the curb on both sides of the gunned down man. Two other people were shown crouching on the curb, while the voices of screaming men and women could be heard. A taxi cab and four vans, all their doors open, were stopped on the driveway, with the hazard lights of one van still blinking on and off. Police are withholding the identities of the other victims pending notification of next of kin, Honrado said. "This is a very unfortunate incident that did happen at Terminal 3," Honrado said. "Government agencies are trying their best to determine the perpetrators and bring them to justice." He appealed to other passengers who witnessed the shooting to help the police identify the suspects. Talumpa was the former vice mayor of Labangan who successfully challenged Aquino ally and incumbent Wilson Nandang for the mayoral post in the last election, according Leo Santillan, spokesman for the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur, which includes Labangan. Santillan told reporters in Pagadian city, the provincial capital, that Talumpa, a member of the Nationalist People's Coalition Party, had flown to Manila earlier in the day with his wife, two nephews and six other people. -AFP |
| Three more remanded after riot Posted: 19 Dec 2013 03:49 PM PST THREE more alleged rioters in the Dec 8 incident in Little India were on Thursday afternoon ordered to be remanded until the following week to assist in ongoing investigations. Agreeing to the prosecution's request, District Judge Lim Tse Haw cited the scale and sheer amount of evidence involved in the case for the trio to be remanded at 'A' Division. The case against them will be heard next Monday, along with 25 others who had appeared in court earlier in the week. All Indian nationals, namely Karuppaiah Chandrasekar, 31, Palanivel Dhasmohan, 27, and Arumugam Karthik, 24, had been charged in court last week (on different days) for being part of an unlawful assembly at Little India on Dec 8. A riot was sparked on that day after a fatal traffic accident involving construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu, a 33-year-old Indian national, and a private bus operated by BT&Tan. Two of the accused, Karuppaiah Chandrasekar and Palanivel Dhasmohan, were alleged to have thrown hardened concrete at police officers. The third, Arumugam Karthik, is said to have been part of a group of at least five that had overturned and set a police car on fire, as well as thrown a dustbin, hardened concrete, bottles and a metal drain cover at the bus windscreen and windows. When asked if they had anything to say, the three men, who were dressed in yellow polo tees, all shook their heads. There will be a hearing next Monday. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network |
| Fishing union boss shot dead in Japan Posted: 19 Dec 2013 08:16 PM PST TOKYO: Japanese police said the head of a fishermen's union was shot dead Friday, the second fatal shooting in as many days in a nation unaccustomed to gun crime. Tadayoshi Ueno, 70, was found lying in the street in the southern city of Kitakyushu after residents nearby heard what was believed to be the sound of gunfire. Local police said he was confirmed dead at hospital, with reports suggesting he had been shot multiple times. Gun crime is rare in Japan, and incidents involving firearms usually have a connection to organised crime groups. Ueno, whose family runs a civil engineering company, was previously fired at in front of his house in 1997 but escaped unhurt, Jiji Press news agency said. However, his brother was shot dead the following year, a crime for which mobsters were arrested, with investigators saying they had targeted him because he refused to give favours in public works projects, Jiji said. Friday's shooting came the day after the president of a well-known dumpling restaurant chain was shot dead in the ancient western city of Kyoto. -AFP |
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