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One dead, seven wounded in Philippine bus ambush

PAGADIAN, (Philippines): Gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing one and critically wounding seven others, police said.

Provincial police chief Superintendent Samson Ubay-Ubay said the bus, in Zamboanga province of del Sur, was on its way to Pagadian when ambushed by armed men positioned on a hill on the Tungawan highway.

One passenger was hit on the forehead and died on the spot, while seven others including the driver were critically wounded.

Combined police and army soldiers were dispatched to track down the attackers, who have not been identified and immediately left the area, the police chief said.

The attack was the second incident involving a passenger bus occurring on the highway this month.

On April 1, 10 gunmen who were believed members of the Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) burned a bus and killed its driver after its owners failed to pay "revolutionary taxes."

The military earlier said they had recovered documents which contained details of the MILF's extortion activities following a raid on a rebel camp.ÑAFP