Four killed in ambush at Manila airport , including mayor

GlobalPost

Four were killed after gunmen opened fire at a passenger terminal at Manila's Ninoy Aquino international airport, apparently targeting the mayor of the southern Philippines town of Labangan. 

Mayor Ukol Talumpa of Zamboanga del Sur province was killed in the attack, alongside his wife, his 18-month-old grandson, and one of his staff assistants in the attack, which took place as the party stepped out of the passenger terminal after arriving in the Philippine capital from the south around 11:00 AM, wrote AFP.

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"Government agencies are trying their best to determine the perpetrators and bring them to justice," said airport manager Jose Angel Honrado of the attack, according to the BBC, which appears to have been carried out by two men on motorcycles. 

The attack was the third to be reported on Talumpa in as many years, wrote The Pinoy, which added that the airport violence would do little to help the international image of the Philippines. 

“President Benigno Aquino needs to step up security measures in metro Manila because violence, regardless of whether it’s politically motivated or not, is a drag on the country’s image,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, to The Pinoy.

“Everybody knows that we don’t have the best airport in the world. This egregious incident shows tourists that it’s also not a safe airport.”

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