Cotabato City radio journalist shot dead in mistaken identity

Manila: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a radio broadcaster in southern Philippines late on Wednesday night, but the journalist was a victim of mistaken identity, police said in a belated report on Thursday.

Badrodin Abbas, 38, a broadcaster of Radio dxCM and a member of Bangsamoro Consortium of Civil Society, was driving a three-wheeled vehicle when two men on motorcycle blocked the road and fired at him at 9:30pm, Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, police chief of Cotabato City, said in a radio interview.

Journalists in the south said that Abbas has been campaigning in his radio programme for the propagation of Islam.

"But he did not talk about the war between Muslim rebels and government soldiers in Mindanao. He was more interested in talking about religion," the victim's colleagues said in another radio interview.

Meanwhile, Dangane said, "Initial investigation showed the killing was not an attack on a media person. It was clearly a case of mistaken identity."

"The real target was the younger brother of Abbas who has been receiving death threats following his involvement in a love triangle since last year," said Dangane, adding, "They alternately drive the pedicab. The brothers look alike. They have the same side view and physical built."

Policemen are now pursuing the gunmen. A closed-circuit TV camera near the area where the assassination occurred captured the plate number of the vehicles that were used by the gunmen, said the regional police chief.

Rights groups said more than 800 people have been victims of political killings since 2001. Majority of them were leftists, human rights lawyers, and journalists.