FLASHand Multi-national firm security chief hurt in Maguindanao ambush

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- A
chief security officer of a multinational firm Cavendish banana plantation
was wounded Thursday morning when gunmen fired at a convoy carrying company
executives while
en route to a packing plant in Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao.Local officials initially identified
the victim only as Mr. Boy Fernandez, who works for the Delinanas Development
Company, which has vast banana farms in interior barangays in Datu Abdullah
Sangki.

Col. Dickson Hermoso,
spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, confirmed the
incident, but declined to provide more details pending the outcome of a joint
probe by the local police and military intelligence units in the province.

What I can confirm, for now, is that
a certain Mr. Fernandez was wounded in the incident,” Hermoso said of the mid-morning ambush in Barangay Banaba, Datu Abdullah Sangki.

Fernandez was hit in the head and was rushed to Davao City.He said soldiers and policemen,
backed by barangay officials, are now in pursuit of the ambushers, last seen
fleeing toward a marshland in the west of Datu Abdullah Sangki.

The wounded security
officer was escorting visiting company executives on their way to a packing
plant in the center of the banana plantation when their attackers, positioned
at one side of the road, suddenly emerged and opened fire with assault rifles.

The gunmen hurriedly
escaped after sensing that responding barangay folks and community watchmen
were closing in.