Philippines police have arrested one of the gang members believed responsible for the murder of an Irish missionary priest, Father Rufus Halley, on the island of Mindanao on Tuesday.
The detained man was named yesterday as Mr Abdulsamad Ibrahim, who was the driver and the owner of the truck used by the attackers.
The driver has told police the man who shot Father Halley was Mr Akto Sumagayan Daing (35), son of a local Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander. Police have filed murder charges against all five gang members still on the run in order to secure warrants for their arrest.
Senior Supt Akmad Omar said yesterday there appeared to have been a heated argument before the shooting as Father Halley attempted to talk the gang out of the kidnap attempt.
The suspects are believed to be in hiding inside Camp Jabbal Nul, a base of the Muslim separatist MILF located near Malabang, Supt Omar said. Police say they cannot launch an offensive against the camp because of a new ceasefire agreement between the government and MILF.
The MILF has denied it is holding the suspects. An MILF spokesman, Mr Eid Kabalu, said the gunmen who killed Father Halley are MNLF members, a separate Moro rebel group which forged a peace agreement with Manila in 1996. He denied the gunman was related to an MILF commander and said he would raise the issue at a joint committee monitoring the ceasefire with the government.
The President of the Philippines, Mrs Gloria Arroyo, yesterday expressed her outrage at the murder and ordered the police and military in the south to intensify operations against the suspects.
Father Halley was shot dead when he resisted an attempt to kidnap him on Tuesday as he returned to his home base of Malabang.
The people of Malabang are grief-stricken following the killing of Father Halley, a popular figure in the south who worked for closer Muslim-Christian relations. Thousands have visited Our Lady of Peace Church in Malabang, where Father Halley was parish priest, to view his remains.
The murder was the latest in a recent wave of attacks on foreigners by Muslim armed groups in the south. His funeral will take place in Mindanao on Saturday and he will be buried in the Columban cemetery on the island.
Two Chinese subcontractors working on an irrigation project in Mindanao, among five people abducted by Muslim gunmen, were killed last week when the military mounted a rescue attempt.