MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato (PNA) – Two women were killed while three other women and three men were wounded in four separate attacks in Pikit and M’lang, North Cotabato in the past two days, police said on Saturday, Oct. 8.
In M’lang, Lt. Col. Realan Mamon, town police chief, said Althea Luceno, 22, and her aunt, Tisay Beltran, 35, were killed when their house was sprayed with bullets by armed men in Barangay Tawan-Tawan at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6.
"No forcible entry was reported and it indicates the attackers could be known to the victims," he said.
Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, Soccsksargen police chief, has ordered a deeper investigation to establish the identities of the attackers and give justice to the victims.
Also on Thursday, three women riding a motorcycle were wounded in an ambush by still unidentified gunmen at about 4 p.m. in Barangay Gli-Gli, Pikit.
Major Maxim Peralta, town police chief, identified the victims as Rosana Samama Mabandas, Gihan Mamintal Abdulraman, and Nainon Dagadas Gani, who all sustained bullet wounds in different parts of their body.
“They (were) traversing a dirt road in Barangay Gli-Gli when one of two men waiting by the roadside opened fire on them without provocation,” Peralta said.
In Pikit on Friday, Oct. 7, two men were hurt when attackers riding in tandem tossed a hand grenade in a motorcycle shop in Barangay Poblacion at 4:30 p.m.
Peralta identified the injured locals as Abdulrauf Mustapha Pangatong, 29, and Reformido Regulacion, 64, of Barangays Poblacion and Lagunde, respectively.
“Pangatong was on board his motorcycle at a full stop in front of the shop owned by the Regulacions along Fedel St. when the perpetrators zipped by and lobbed a hard object (that) then exploded,” Peralta said.
The victims sustained shrapnel injuries in the stomach and thigh and are undergoing treatment in a local hospital.
Earlier that day, Rodolfo Gornez, 74, a retired militiaman, was injured when gunmen ambushed him and his motorcycle driver in Barangay Panicupan, Pikit.
Peralta said Gornez sustained non-fatal injuries while motorcycle driver Salim Garcia, 29, was unscathed in the incident.
Garcia rushed the injured Gornez to the nearest infirmary in the town.