Gunmen kill 3 family members in Cotabato

COTABATO CITY , Philippines  – Unidentified gunmen opened fire with assault rifles at a village in North Cotabato Wednesday night, killing three members of a Muslim family and wounding two others.

Senior Superintendent Norberto Batislaong, director of the North Cotabato provincial police, said policemen are now in pursuit of the gunmen, last seen fleeing towards Lanao del Sur after attacking Barangay Busaon in Banisilan town.

Batislaong said the group first surrounded several houses in Barangay Busaon and, without warning, opened fire with M-16 and M-14 assault rifles, killing instantly Kagui Hashim Gumbay, his wife, Noria, and their 16-year-old son named Cris.

Two of Gumbay’s children, all minors were wounded in the shooting frenzy. The victims were rushed by neighbors to a dispensary at the town proper of Banisilan.

Banisilan is North Cotabato’s remotest town, inhabited by some 40,000 mixed Muslim and Christian residents.

Batislaong said investigators are now trying to determine the real motive for the attack and the exact identities of the suspects.