8 wounded as gunmen attack passenger bus

ZAMBOANGA —  At least eight passengers were wounded when gunmen ambushed a passenger bus on a highway  58 kilometers east of Zamboanga city proper shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

Police said the unidentified gunmen, suspected to be members of an extortion group, attacked about 11:45 p.m. in Barangay Buenavista a Rural Transit Bus unit with plate number JVH-447 bound for Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. There were 35 passengers on board.

Chief Inspector Ramon Bautista Jr., chief of Police Station 2, cited an investigation account that gunmen positioned on both side of the road opened fire at the bus with M16 rifles. based on the empty ammunition cartridges recovered in the ambush site.

Bautista said the suspect failed to stop the bus as the driver sped off toward the nearest Marines detachment where he sought assistance.

Bautista said eight of the passengers were injured from the attack.

The victims were identified as Christopher Caigan Lumawan, 27, of Bolungisan, Imelda town; Ednalin Jaim Gella, 20, of Dumalinao town, all in Zamboanga Del Sur; Jaman Alam Suradi, 53, a member of the Philippine Army (PA)and resident of Barangay Sta. Barbara; George Sinafica Elnas, 32, of Tulungatung, all in this city; Reniel Endino Abong, 24; Lopes Teña Noel, 46, and his wife Jenevie Lopes Te?a, 36, of Kabasalan, Zamboanga  Sibugay; and John Recosasa Baynosa, 36, from Siparoc Jose, Dalman town, Zamboanga  Del Norte.

The victims who sustained gunshot wounds from their different parts of their bodies were rushed to Paragas Memorial Hospital in the neighboring village of Quinipot for treatment.

Bautista the police are suspecting that the attack was a prelude to extortion to the bus company.