ZAMBOANGA CITY, 31 January 2003 — A wealthy woman allegedly behind illegal gamblings in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao was kidnapped by the gunmen after she failed to pay extortion money, officials said yesterday.
Dozens of gunmen, believed to be members of the Pentagon kidnap gang, seized the 47-year old Roxas Dacil inside her house in Poblacion village in Sultan Kudarat Pendatun town late Saturday, said Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, commander of the military4th Civil Relations Group (CRG).
“The Pentagon kidnap gang is believed to be behind this and troops are tracking down the kidnappers,” Covarrubias, said.
Covarrubias said the gunmen seized the woman after she refused to pay extortion money to the Pentagon Gang, listed last year by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Manila blamed the group for the series of kidnappings of mostly foreigners and wealthy Filipino traders in the southern Philippines.
In nearby South Cotabato province, one person was seriously injured when a grenade exploded inside a market in Kidapawan City, the military said. The blast tore several wooden stalls selling rice and wounded one person on Monday afternoon, a field report reaching the Souterhn Command said.
He said policemen and soldiers sifting through debris recovered the safety lever of the grenade, believed to be an M26 model. “We still don’t know the motive of the attack, but extortionist and rebel groups are active in the area,” he said.
No individual or group clainmed responsibility for the attack, but the blast came barely two days after a bomb explosion outsie an airport in the southern Jolo island killed a government soldier and injured another.
Separatist Moro rebels were also blamed by the military and police in previous bombings in Kabacan City that killed many civilians over the years. 30
