Gunmen Kill Radio Commentator In S. Philippines

Badrodin Abbas was attacked by two passengers on Wednesday night when he was driving a mini-bus usually operated by his brother, police said

Two gunmen shot dead a local radio commentator in the southern Philippines, police said on Thursday, the first journalist killed in the country this year.

Badrodin Abbas was attacked by two passengers on Wednesday night when he was driving a mini-bus usually operated by his brother, police said.

The Philippines is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists -- five were murdered last year while 59 have been killed since 2001, based on records from the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines.

"We're still trying to find out if the killing was related to his work as a journalist," Willie Dangane, police chief in Cotabato City on the southern island of Mindanao, told reporters.

"We have heard rumours that he could have been mistaken for his brother who was receiving constant death threats," he added.

A Muslim, Abbas was using his radio programme to promote Islam and attack opponents of a proposed territory deal between Manila and Muslim rebels fighting for self-determination for 40 years.

A government taskforce investigating journalist killings condemned the murder of the radio commentator.

"It is lamentable that the year has hardly begun, yet another journalist has been killed," said Ricardo Blancaflor, undersecretary at the justice department and head of taskforce 211, adding he had sent a forensic team to investigate.

Under fire from local and international human rights groups, the government has vowed to track down killers of reporters but there have been few convictions.