Bodyguard's shooting spree kills 2

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - A bodyguard of a local warlord went berserk on Sunday afternoon and killed with an M16 rifle two relatives before responding civilian volunteers shot him dead in Montawal town in the province.

Captain Tony Bulao, spokesman of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said Rahib Ali actually targeted his employer, Mokamad Andoy, former president of the Association of Barangay Chairmen in nearby Pagalungan town, while inside the residence of Vice-Mayor Annie Montawal.

The vice-mayor's house, located at Barangay Tunggol in Montawal, is near the town's municipal police station.

Andoy survived the shooting frenzy unscathed, but his two nephews seated beside him, Nasser Alba and Andala Makapalao, were not as lucky.

Ali was related by blood to both Alba and Makapalao.

Alba and Makapalao, who both sustained multiple gunshot wounds, were declared dead on arrival by doctors at a hospital in nearby Kabacan town in North Cotabato.

Bulao said Ali was eventually killed by responding community watchmen while trying to escape.

“There were indications, according to feedback by local officials and witnesses to the incident, that the suspect was under the influence of dangerous drugs,” Bulao said.

A known political warlord, Andoy, former chairman of a politically troubled barangay in Pagalungan town, is locked in a bloody rido (clan war) with a big Moro family in the same municipality.

Andoy and his relatives had thrice clashed with their adversaries last month in Pagalungan, causing the dislocation of hundreds of innocent Moro families.