A NATIONAL Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official has linked a group of “young radicals” that is allegedly seeking recognition and support from the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) to the ambush of an Iligan-based ABS-CBN crew in Marawi City on Saturday.
The suspects were young radicals who claimed to be “sympathizers” of the Isis, said NBI-Iligan chief Alex Cabornay.
The stateun Philippine News Agency (PNA) quoted Cabornay as saying that the group was responsible for the ambush of the TV crew led by ABS-CBN reporter Ronnie Enderes a day after Christmas.
Cabornay said he has already informed his superiors in the NBI about the activities of the suspects who want recognition for their various criminal activities in order to gain financial assistance from Isis.
No one was hurt in the ambush but bullets shattered the ABS-CBN crew cab’s windshield.
Investigators said at least four armed men riding on two motorcycles carried out the attack on the busy street of Banggolo in Marawi.
The TV crew managed to seek assistance from a nearby military camp where they were escorted safely back home to Iligan City.
Cabornay said a team of NBI personnel from Iligan City and Marawi City has been collating and cross checking data to identify the young men who have been suspected of pulling various criminal activities in the area before the ambuscade of the television crew took place.
The three-person Iligan-based ABS-CBN crew headed by reporter Ronnie Enderes went to Marawi City to look into the bombing of a National Grid Corp. tower in Rama-in town, Lanao del Sur.
Incidentally, another NGCP tower was bombed by a still unidentified group in Balo-i, Agus 2 in Lanao del Norte on Monday, days after the bombings of two towers in Lanao del Sur and North Cobabato.
NGCP Mindanao spokesperson Bambie Capulong said that based on reports, four more will be bombed by lawless elements during upcoming holidays.
She said intelligence reports earlier indicated that eight NGCP towers were targets, and the Balo-i tower was the fourth to be bombed.
“NGCP warns that if unabated, further bombing incidents may prevent customers from enjoying uninterrupted electricity during the holidays,” she said.
Although not toppled, she said NGCP would still work on the restoration of the 138-kilovolt line tower, located in Nangka, Balo-i in Lanao del Norte, as soon as the area is secured.
Meanwhile, Enderes said his crew was already going home when they noticed that men on two motorcycles were tailing them.
He said, “We tried to mislead the suspects by following various routes but were later caught in Banggolo where one of the suspects fired at the driver and the other at the left side of the wheel of our vehicle.”
Enderes said the suspects were trying to get the driver in order to immobilize the vehicle, but they missed the targets prompting the driver to speed up to the nearest military camp.
Enderes, who has been an Iligan-based ABS-CBN reporter for 16 years, said he has no enemies in his areas of coverage.
“This is the first time that I and my team were waylaid by armed men,” he said.
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