Marine convoy fired at in Lanao

COTABATO CITY — Unidentified men sprayed with automatic gunfire a convoy of Marines belonging to a special group helping enforce the ceasefire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, wounding one of them and causing panic among villagers in Pualas, Lanao del Sur where the ambush took place.

Marine Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino, chief of the government’s Ad-Hoc Joint Action Group, said his men were on their way to Cotabato City from their headquarters in Lanao del Sur when the ambushers opened fire, wounding a certain Sgt. Luna.

The gunmen, positioned on both sides of the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway in Pualas town, immediately fled after the Marines, led by a certain Maj. Gaerlan, returned fire and engaged them in a running gunbattle.

The wounded Luna, Gaerlan’s security escort, is now recuperating in a hospital here. — John Unson