12 November 2004
Gene Boyd Lumawag
Shooting
A Filipino photojournalist was shot dead while working on a story in the Islamic militant stronghold of Jolo island in the southern Philippines, the military said.
They identified the victim as Gene Boyd Lumawag, employed by the domestic news service Mindanews.
The photographer was attacked by an unidentified lone gunman in downtown Jolo at dusk, said southern Philippines military spokesman Captain Richie Pabilonia.
The attacker escaped and no arrests have been made, Pabilonia said. The motive for the attack was not known.
Co-workers contacted by telephone said Lumawag was working on an unspecified news assignment in Jolo with another Mindanao journalist, who was unhurt in the attack. The second journalist later sought refuge in a Roman Catholic church in the mainly Muslim island, they said. Jolo is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, a self-proclaimed separatist Muslim guerrilla group that has waged a bombing campaign against Christian targets and kidnapped Western missionaries and tourists over the past decade.
