5 dead, 2 hurt in quarrel over jammed radio signal in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Angered by the interference on his two-way icom radio, a village official fired his gun at a family, killing five people and wounding two others in Basilan.

Police Senior Superintendent Rufino Inot, the provincial police director in Basilan, said Albani Ahmad, a councilor of Sangbay village, island of Pilas in Hadji Muhtamad town, went to the house of Paring Sahibad at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 3, looking for Sahibad’s son Bassal, whom he accused of jamming his radio signal.

“When told that Bassal was not around, Ahmad started shooting Sahibad’s family,” Chief Inspector Elmer Solon, station commander of Zamboanga Central Police Station, learned after four of the victims reached this city for treatment.

Dead on the spot were Bassal Sahibad, Radiyo Sahibad, and a certain Arab.

Two others, Nashra Samuddin Akimuddin, and Abdillah Japaluddin, expired while on the way for medical treatment at Brent Hospital here.

Paring Ladjahassan Sahibad, 67;  and Tadeo Ladjahassan Sahibad, 36; were critically wounded and confined at the Zamboanga City Medical Center.

A manhunt is on for the village councilor believed to have sought refuge in nearby Pilas island.

The Jan. 3 massacre is the first bloody incident in Basilan this year, prompting Governor Jim Saliman to call for a deeper investigation and the immediate arrest of the suspect.