Australian mining company official shot dead in Philippines

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed an official of an Australian mining company in the southern Philippines on Friday, police said on Saturday. Rodgen Conejar, 57, died to multiple gunshot wounds after being attacked in Bunawan Brook village, Bunawan town in Mindanao's Agusan del Sur province around 6:30 a.m., according to Martin Gamba, spokesperson of the Caraga police regional office. The victim was the mine monitoring inspector of Philsaga Mining Corporation, the local subsidiary of Australian gold miner Medusa Mining, based in Bunawan town, according to Gamba. Gamba said the victim was on his way to work onboard his motorcycle, when the assailants drove alongside him and one of them fired at the mining official several times using a handgun. An investigation into the incident was being conducted, the police spokesperson said. Conejar was the second mining executive murdered in the southern Philippines this year. Several months ago, armed men also shot dead a mid-level manager of Sagittarius Mines, the local subsidiary of the London and Australia-listed Xstrata Mines, while the victim was jogging near his home in Davao City.