ABSTRACT
It was raining heavily at 7:15 P.M. on Sunday, October 12, 2003, in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato Province, where an elite unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and soldiers from the Philippine army’s 6th Infantry Division had set up a roadblock. According to the military account, the soldiers were responding to information from three independent informants that Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi of the Jemaah Islamiya would pass there on his way to General Santos City, South Cotabato. A motorcycle cab with a driver and passenger came into view and the officers attempted to flag it down. The motorcycle cab ignored the order and the passenger began firing a .45-caliber automatic pistol at the soldiers who returned fire. At the end of a brief shootout, the driver fled and the thirty-one-year-old Indonesian terrorist lay dying with five bullet wounds—two in the chest, one in each arm, and another in his side. Al-Ghozi was taken to the Midsayap Diagnostic Center in nearby Midsayap town, where he was pronounced dead, and fingerprints were taken for a definitive identification. The body was then driven the ninety miles to General Santos City, where forensics experts conducted a further examination. 1
