Manila: Twenty fishermen have been killed and three others wounded by gunmen off an island in the southern Philippines, the military said.
The bodies of the 20 men, aboard their fishing boats, were brought back to Pagadian City. They were scheduled to be brought back to their families in San Pablo, Zamboanga del Sur yesterday, Colonel Jose Johriel Cenabre, Philippine Marines deputy commander in Western Mindanao told the Inquirer.
"Our units are coordinating with the crew of one of the three fishing boats [that the ill-fated fishermen used to go near Sibago Island where they were attacked on Monday morning]," said Colonel Cenabre, adding the men were ten nautical miles (18.5km) off Sibago Island, part of Mohammad Ajul municipality in Basilan Province when attacked by men with assault rifles.
But a conflicting report said only 15 fishermen had been killed, based on statements of fishermen who said they found seven, five, and three bodies from three boats the fishermen used to go near Sibago Island, said Chief Superintendent Beinvenido Latag, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The fishermen sent a distress call when they were being attacked. They said they were being fired at by men with powerful firearms, Mayor Belman Mantos of San Pablo, Zamboanga del Sur, also told the Inquirer.
Fellow fishermen found bodies aboard three boats; and three survivors, two of whom were brought back to Pagadian City, said Mantos. Jerome Lunsol, 22, who was critically wounded was taken to Zamboanga General Hospital, said Mantos.
Violence did not occur when the same fishermen went near Sibago Islands to check their fish cages last week, said Mantos.
"We are looking at the fishermen in Sibago Islands who contested the entry of rival fishermen from North Zamboanga, as possible perpetrators of the crime," said Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang of the Western Mindanao Command.
