Indian killed in Philippines

MANILA - An Indian trader was killed by unidentified robbers in a southern Philippine city, police said Thursday.

Satinder Singh was shot dead on a busy street in the Mindanao city of Panabo, where Muslim and leftist rebels and armed thugs roam freely, Xinhua reported.

Singh, a resident of Koronadal City in Mindanao and owner of a lending company that catered to small entrepreneurs, was collecting money from vendors in the city’s market when he was attacked by armed men, Superintendent Alexander Serrano, city police chief, told Xinhua.

Serrano said the suspects took the victim’s collection amounting to $565 and his motorcycle.

Police said they are looking into robbery as the motive behind the killing.

The attack in Panabo came less than a month after armed thieves shot and killed two Indian moneylenders in Trento town, Agusan del Sur province, about 130 km north of Panabo.