4 kidnap suspects,girl killed in clash

Four suspected kidnappers were killed in a shootout with agents of the National Anti-kidnapping Task Force (NAKTF) in Navotas yesterday afternoon. A four-year-old girl was also fatally hit by a stray bullet.

Six children, aged four to 11, and two adults were wounded when they were caught in the crossfire. Also wounded were one of the suspects and a NAKTF agent.

The suspects reportedly refused to stop their car at a NAKTF checkpoint along R-10 Road and opened fire at the lawmen, triggering a gunfight that also killed four-year-old Jennifer Gallano who was hit in the abdomen while sleeping in a nearby house.

Police identified two of the four slain suspects as Reynaldo Briones and Christopher Elizalde. The two others remained unidentified.

Another suspect, also unidentified, was critically wounded in the shootout and was rushed to the Tondo Medical Center for treatment.

Taken to the same hospital were Christian Jay Manaloto, 8; Kurt Neil Varela, 4; Anthony Abesebo, 9; Diana Vinson, 8; Mary Joy Manotoc, 10; Louie Javier, 11, and driver Fermin Gamboa.

A NAKTF agent, Senior Police Officer 4 (SPO4) Odimar Sayas, was wounded along with bystander Lope Varela, 41, who was hit by a stray bullet.

Initial reports said the five suspects, in a blue Mitsubishi Lancer with license plates NFA-710, tried to shoot their way through the NAKTF checkpoint.

Police said a Nissan Vanette, with license plates TTD-530, driven by Gamboa with the six children on board was caught in the crossfire as it tried to pass through the checkpoint.

In a statement, NAKTF said the police officers attempted to stop the suspects’ vehicle after receiving a tip that its occupants were about to carry out an abduction.

Chief Inspector Michael Angelo Zunega, Navotas police investigation chief, said NAKTF agents coordinated their efforts in putting up a roadblock in the area to intercept the suspects.

"The NAKTF operatives said they were tailing the suspects from Novaliches in Quezon City to Manila," Zunega said.

Sensing that they were being tailed and faced with a police checkpoint just in front of them, the suspects opened fire at the lawmen, triggering the shootout, Zunega said.

Police recovered three caliber .45 automatics, a 9-mm. handgun and a caliber .38 revolver from the slain suspects inside their bullet-riddled car.

Authorities have recently clamped down on suspected kidnappers following several high-profile abductions, arresting or killing more than 70 suspects in the past four months.

Following the controversy generated by the kidnap slay of Coca Cola finance executive Betti Chua Sy in November last year, President Arroyo created the NAKTF and appointed former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes to lead the anti-kidnapping efforts.

Mrs. Arroyo also empowered the NAKTF to implement a system of checkpoints in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

So far NAKTF has been effective in its anti-kidnap drive, every few days crossing out the mugshot of yet another kidnapper in its roster of the most notorious kidnappers in the country, indicating that they were either killed or captured. - With AFP