2 men killed, 6 hurt in Cotabato gun attack

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two men were killed while six others, including minors, were wounded when gunmen shot them with M16 rifles on Tuesday morning, June 2, in Barangay Malingao in Kadayangan town in Cotabato province.

Local executives and Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately told reporters at noon Tuesday that the incident left two Moro residents of Barangay Malingao, Musalik Balang and Haron Boliongan, dead.

Six others, among them the non-Moro Romeo Lombo, a resident of Barangay Glad in nearby Midsayap, Cotabato, sustained bullet wounds in different parts of their bodies, according to Salanguit and municipal officials who helped transport them to different hospitals.

Kadayangan is one of the eight newly-created Bangsamoro towns in the Special Geographic Area of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, located in the territory of Cotabato province in Administrative Region 12.

Lt. Julito Gonzalez, officer-in-charge of the Kadayangan Municipal Police Station, and Salanguit separately told reporters that Balang, Boliongan and the six residents hurt in the attack were together at one area in Barangay Malingao when men, armed with M16 assault rifles, came close and opened fire.

Their attackers immediately scampered away after they felled the victims with rifle shots, according to barangay officials and police investigators who responded to the atrocity, which caused panic among villagers in Barangay Malingao.