2 suspects in Saudi slay attempt charged

From The Standard (Mar 4): 2 suspects in Saudi slay attempt charged

THE Zamboanga City police have filed frustrated and attempted murder charges against the two men who are believed to have been accomplices in the shooting of an influential Saudi preacher and a diplomat last Tuesday.

The charges were filed against Mujer Amilahassan and Junaide Cadir, who were tagged as accomplices of gunman Misuari Kiliste Rugasanand, who shot at preacher Sheikh Aaidh al-Qarni and religious attaché Sheikh Turki Assaegh at the Western Mindanao State University Tuesday evening.

The two Saudis were shot at close range by Rugasanand as they were leaving the gymnasium of the university, but the police were killed by the victims’ police escorts and the two victims have been declared out of danger.

The two Saudis spoke at the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines in the university and their lectures appeared to be the motive behind the shooting.

Absalom Cerveza, spokesman of the Moro National Liberation Front, said Al-Qarni made strong statements regarding the Sunni and Shiite sectarian conflict in the Middle East and the shooter was apparently a Shiite, a branch of Islam that accounts for five percent or about 350,000 Moros.

Qarni suffered gunshot wounds in the shoulder, left arm and abdomen while Assaegh had bullet wounds in the thigh and leg when a gunman, identified as Misuari Kiliste Rugasanand, 21, an engineering student at MSU, opened fire on them. Lawmen shot and killed the gunman.

Cerveza said Qarni was on a hit list of a still unknown group and said Tuesday’s attack was premeditated.

Reports of Tuesday’s attack spread throughout Zamboanga City and other parts of Mindanao and was the focus of discussion among the Muslim population.

The Ulamas expressed dismay that the country was being dragged into to Middle East sectarian conflict.

Reports said two people from Basilan who were with the gunman were arrested after the shooting.

Meanwhile, senatorial candidate Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez on Friday denounced the attempted killing.

“The seeming religion-inspired assassination attempt is condemnable in the strongest possible terms. Brutal attacks have no place in a democratic country like ours,” Romualdez stressed.

Reports have it that the influential al-Qarni, who has 12 million followers on social media site Twitter, is on the hit list of the terrorist group Islamic State. The Leyte opposition leader has called on the public to always remain vigilant in the fight against all forms of violence and acts of terrorism that threaten peace and order and the right of all people to freely exercise their political and religious beliefs.

He lamented the continued pattern of attacks by suspected Islamic extremist militants in various parts of the world. Given this, Romualdez pressed authorities to step up its intelligence gathering and immediately put the perpetrators behind bars to ensure that no other similar incidents will happen in the future.

“The incident was so alarming. Our police and military personnel should work double time on their intelligence gathering to spare the public from various acts of terrorism. It is high time for our authorities to step up and arrest the perpetrators,” Romualdez said.

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