Four dead in RP ambush

Four dead in RP ambush

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Reuter): Four rubber traders were killed and five wounded in an ambush yesterday in Zamboanga del Sur by gunmen believed to be members of a Moslem group fighting for autonomy in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, a senior army officer said.

Colonel Narciso Abaya told reporters the attackers, believed to be members of the Moro National Liberation Front, flagged down the traders' truck in the remote town of Kabasalan, 800 kilometers (310 miles) south of Manila.

Abaya said one of the survivors, Robelito Danio, told him that the attackers ordered the traders to leave the vehicle before opening fire.

"They herded us like animals and riddled us with bullets without any mercy," Abaya quoted Danio as saying.