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Legaspi/Panamao: A motorcycle-riding gunman shot dead a radio broadcaster south of the Philippine capital Manila, a police official and a relative said on Saturday.
The broadcaster, Ronaldo Anjo Julia, a brother of Magarao town mayor Nelson Julia, was shot dead late Friday, said Magarao police chief Inspector Victor Acuela. Members of the Julia family blamed political rivals for the killing but police did not name any suspects.
The victim was previously a full-time broadcaster on local radio stations but had been working for his brother, the mayor, hosting radio shows financed by the town government.
Before this incident, at least four journalists had been killed in the Philippines this year.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and French group Reporters Without Borders have branded the Philippines the second most dangerous place for working journalists outside Iraq.
Three journalists were killed in the Philippines last year, while 12 were killed in 2006.
Avenge attack
Meanwhile, Al Qaida-linked militants killed two Philippine marines in an ambush yesterday on a southern Philippine island, a military spokesman said.
The two men, who were intelligence operatives, were passing through a village outside Panamao town on Jolo island when their motorcycle broke down, navy spokesman Edgard Arevalo said. They were attacked by Abu Sayyaf gunmen after they stopped to fix the motorcycle, he said.
Arevalo said the leader of the gunmen wanted to avenge the recent arrest by Philippine marines of his brother, who is also a member of the Muslim extremist group.
The United States and the European Union have listed the Abu Sayyaf as a terror group because its members have been involved in kidnappings, bombings and beheadings. They were blamed for the 2004 bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that killed 116 people.
Weakened by US-backed military offensives, the Abu Sayyaf has largely been on the run in Jolo and nearby island strongholds in recent years with only about 300 fighters - down from more than 1,000 eight years ago.
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