Senior Philippine law-enforcer wounded in ambush
A senior official of the Philippines' premier crime-fighting agency was shot in an ambush in a Manila street late Tuesday but survived the attack, police and hospital officials said. Reynaldo Esmeralda, deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), was fired upon while being driven home from work, said a police statement. The police report said Esmeralda had been wounded and hospital officials interviewed on radio station DZMM later said the official, his brother and his driver all suffered wounds from gunshots and glass fragments. All three were described by the doctors as "stable," and not in danger. Men on a motorcycle fired at Esmeralda's car after the vehicle and three back-up cars exited the NBI compound, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in separate radio interview. The justice secretary, whose department is in charge of the NBI, said Esmeralda told her via telephone that he did not know who might want to kill him. De Lima said the incident might be related to the sacking of NBI chief Magtanggol Gatdula and 10 of his agents last month after an investigation linked them to the kidnapping of a Japanese woman for ransom. She said Justice Department officials who investigated Gatdula's case had recently received death threats. "I'm not saying that this is the reason (for the attack). I am just warning that there is already a security threat," she said.
