Army major, 2 others killed in Zambo Sibugay bus attack

(Updated 2:21 p.m.) Three people — an Army major, his wife and a government militiaman — were killed Tuesday night when armed men, believed to be extortionists, attacked the bus they were riding in Zamboanga Sibugay province in southern Philippines. Another militiaman was critically wounded when he engaged the attackers in a firefight, according to Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the military’s Western Mindanao Command. Cabangbang identified the fatalities as Maj. Julistidi Arasid, his wife Sitti Alaya Jundam Arasid, and militiaman Lito dela Cruz, who was also the bus marshal. The wounded militiaman, meanwhile, was identified as Federico Luchaves. A son of the Arasid couple, seated near the rear of the bus, was also fired upon by the armed men but was unhurt, Cabangbang said. Citing military reports, Cabangbang said the victims boarded the Rural Bus (body number 9342) at around 8:20 p.m. at R.T Lim town in Zamboanga Sibugay. The bus, driven by Crispin Lozada, was on its way to Zamboanga City from Pagadian City. The official said after shooting dead the victims using cal. 45 pistols, the attackers, who posed as passengers, burned the bus with the bodies of the fatalities still inside. They also took two M14 rifles owned by the militiamen. Cabangbang said authorities were still determining the motive in the attack. He said several buses by the Rural company had been subjected to similar attacks in the past, the last one in October last year in Matalam, North Cotabato. Ten people were killed in that attack. “There is no motive yet but this early, we are looking at extortion [as the angle] because the perpetrators were carrying gasoline when they boarded the bus. They indeed planned to burn the bus," he said. Troops from the Army’s 102nd Brigade and Zamboanga Sibugay provincial police office are conducting pursuit operation against the culprits. The Army leadership, meanwhile, condemned what it described as an “atrocious act" as it vowed to help the Philippine National Police run after those responsible for the attack. “The Philippine Army, along with other security agencies like the PNP, will not hesitate to apply the rule of law to those who would continue to commit atrocities especially to innocent civilians and non-combatants," said Army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade Jr. in a statement Wednesday. — KBK/HS, GMA News