Chainsaw operator, companion killed in Basilan gun attack

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Gunmen killed a chainsaw operator and his companion in an ambush in Barangay Macalang in Al-Barka, Basilan on Friday, April 11.

Officials of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade and the Basilan Provincial Police Office separately told reporters on Sunday, April 13, that the chainsaw operator Franky Miano and his companion both died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in the attack.

Police investigators and Army intelligence agents were still, until Sunday morning, trying to identify the slain companion of Miano.

Miano is a resident of Barangay Culianan in Zamboanga City, according to police investigators.

The duo was riding a motorcycle together on their way somewhere, bringing with them a chainsaw and other provisions, when they were attacked by men armed with assault rifles at Sitio Bohe Libi in Barangay Macalang.

Investigators from the Al-Barka Municipal Police Station said their attackers had escaped before responding policemen and barangay leaders could reach the scene.

Local officials had told reporters that the fatal ambush of the two men was triggered by a grudge, not perpetrated by any outlawed group. The 101st Infantry Brigade, units in Basilan of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and local executives declared Al-Barka last year as totally cleared from the presence of the Abu Sayyaf terror group and supporters.