By Malu Cadelina Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY – Two suspected bomb couriers were killed when they engaged in a shootout with authorities in M’lang, North Cotabato Wednesday.
Photos courtesy of (Cotabato 3rd district Board Member Socrates Pinol.)
The Police in M’lang identified the slain suspects as Allen Nords Salbo and Saligan Patrick Ali, both residents of Barangay Digal in Buluan, Maguindanao.
M’lang vice-mayor Joselito Pinol said elements of the Charlie Company of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion flagged down the suspects during a highway check along Barangay Tawan-Tawan in M’lang.
The motorists, however, refused to subject themselves to a routine security check and instead sped towards the Poblacion, the vice-mayor added.
Superintendent Giovanni Ladeo, officer-in-charge of the M’lang PNP, said that during the pursuit, one of the suspects allegedly fired his pistol which led soldiers to return fire which ensued a firefight.
The suspects sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies, he said.
Authorities recovered the IED placed inside a paper bag in an area where the bodies of two suspected bomb couriers were found.
The incident last Wednesday was the third in a series of IED recoveries in M’lang town.