2 dead, 5 hurt in Cotabato ambush

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Two were killed while five others were wounded when unidentified gunmen, onboard a heavily-tinted van, attacked them near a police station in Cotabato City at 5 a.m. Wednesday. Cotabato City Police Office Director Danny Reyes identified the fatalities as Peks Sultan and Siramen Abdulla, who both succumbed to gunshot wounds in several parts of their bodies. Five others, including Rosary Heights-5 village chief Amil Bula, were hit by stray bullets, Reyes said. The victims were sitting in one corner of the road when the gunmen, on board a van, opened fire, using assault rifles. The attackers, according to witnesses' accounts, were positioned near the public cemetery near Cotabato City Police Station. Abdula and Sultan died on the spot while Bula and four others were brought to Cotabato Regional and Medical Center for medical treatment. Reports said the wanton killings in Cotabato City led the City Council of Cotabato to hold an inter-agency security summit in early December. During the conference, participants drafted recommendations on how authorities can address effectively the peace and order problems in the city. Reyes said they are still investigating on the motive and the identities of the perpetrators. Meanwhile, three bystanders were injured, one of them severely hurt, when an improvised explosive device blasted along the national highway in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province around 10:30 p.m., Wednesday. Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin, provincial police director of Sultan Kudarat Police Office, said the bomb was fashioned from a 60-mm mortar using a cellular phone as triggering device. Balquin said the bomb was placed in front of the Cebuana Lhuillier pawnshop. The blast site is also few steps away from Tacurong Fitmart, one of the malls in the city. Citing witnesses' account, Balquin said minutes before the blast a white van stopped near the site and later sped off towards the highway in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat. Wounded were Jessa Dizon Marcelino, 23, of Purok-11, Abadilla Subdivision; Christian Jay Vino Gabaon, 26, of Block-3, Canos Subdivision, Purok-11; and James Biernes Salinda, 26, of EJC Montilla Street, all in Poblacion, Tacurong City. Of the injured, Marcelino was seriously hit, initial reports said. Marcelino and the other victims are treated at the Tamondong Hospital in Tacurong City. Balquin said the Scene of the Crime Operatives, together with elements of the Explosives and Ordinance Disposal Team in Sultan Kudarat, continue to conduct the post-blast investigations. The Wednesday blast was the fourth since November, this year, police said. "We don't discount the possibility that the same lawless groups might be behind the series of blasts here, knowing that the same type of bombs were used to sow terror in our area," Balquin said. However, none of the armed lawless groups operating in Central Mindanao has owned the bombing, reports said. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)