Report: Gunman fires on Philippines extremism conference
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Two Saudi men are reported to have been injured when a gunman opened fire on an Islamic symposium at a university in the Philippines south late Tuesday.
Among the injured were reported to be an Islamic scholar and a religious attache to the Saudi Embassy in the capital Manila.
The Manila Times reported that the gunman was shot dead at the Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga by the men's security entourage.
A local police spokesperson named the men as Sheikh Turki Assaegh and Sheikh Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni.
Senior Insp. Helen Galvez said that both men were rushed to hospital where al-Qarni is reported to be in a critical condition.
Zamboanga is a predominantly Christian city in the majority Muslim southern region.
Mayor Beng Climaco has said the Ulama Council of Zamboanga Peninsula had organized the conference.
Authorities have said that they have no idea how the gunman managed to evade university security.
The Philippines military is presently battling members of a Moro group (formerly known as the Khilafah Islamiyah Mindanao) with alleged ties to the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah in the southern region.
In the past week at least 24 militants have been killed.
The militants are seeking to take advantage of the shelving of a law that would have sealed a peace process between the country's one time largest Moro rebel group and the government.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front Vice Chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar claimed last week that armed groups who have been engaged in clashes with government troops in the south since the beginning of the month are dismayed by the failure of President Benigno Aquino III's administration to pass Bangsamoro Basic Law.
BBL would have implemented a 2014 peace deal signed by the government and the MILF on Mar. 27 2014 -- encompassing the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro -- bringing 17 years of peace negotiations in southern Mindanao island to a close.
However the agreement has been shelved during the duration of the country's presidential elections leading to fears that such "terrorist" groups may try and take advantage of local frustrations to move into the territory.
By Roy Ramos
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