Man arrested over murder of Irish priest

Police in the Philippines have arrested a 25-year-old man they claim has admitted to helping a group of Muslim rebels who killed an Irish missionary.

Abdul Ibrahim apparently told police that he drove the truck used by the six gunmen who killed Columban Father Rufus Halley on the island of Mindanao earlier this week.

The men, believed to be members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, shot Fr Halley in the head after trying to kidnap him in the Lanao del Sur province.

The six gunmen are currently in hiding in rebel-held territory and cannot be arrested because of a ceasefire deal signed with the Government. The deal prevents police from entering rebel territory. Nonetheless, the local police chief said kidnapping and murder charges will be filed against the six men and their accomplice arrested today.

Fr Halley, a native of Waterford, was killed after he was stopped on a rural road near the remote village of Diamaro. He was shot with an M-16 after resisting his attackers’ attempts to force him into their truck.

The priest had been working in the Malabang parish for 20 years and often mediated in local disputes between Muslims and Catholics.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is one of many rebel armies fighting for an independent Islamic state in the mainly-Catholic Philippines.