COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Police and military probers are still looking for leads on Saturday's fatal ambush of nine motorists inside a sprawling state agricultural reservation in Kabacan town in North Cotabato.
Police Maj. Peter Pinalgan, Jr. of the Kabacan municipal police station said Sunday they are still trying to identify the gunmen who ambushed the nine Moro men on separate motorcycles at noontime Saturday in Barangay Aringgay.
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Pinalgan said the slain motorists — Kors Salilangan, Sandigan Zailon, Benladin Dimanalao, Musaid Jaiden, Romeo Balatamay, Katindig Kagayawon, Fahad Mandigan, Budsal Lipusan and Tong Guiaman — died from multiple bullet wounds sustained in the attack.
The crime scene is inside the government-protected demonstration farming reservation of the University of Southern Mindanao, the largest public tertiary learning institution in central Mindanao.
The victims were on motorcycles en route to the town proper of Kabacan, an agricultural town, when they were attacked by gunmen positioned along the road.
Guiaman, the ninth ambush victim, died in a hospital four hours later.
In a statement, the Anak Mindanao Party-list urged witnesses to the incident to cooperate with investigators to hasten efforts of resolving the case.
Lawyer Suharto Ambolodto, deputy minority floor leader of the interim parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Abdulraof Macacua, BARMM’s natural resources minister, separately condemned the incident and urged the police to identify the culprits for prosecution.
Ambolodto and Macacua also called on the National Bureau of Investigation to come in and help put closure to the incident.
"We urge authorities to ensure the safety of the Muslim communities in order to put a stop to violent attacks targeting the vulnerable and helpless," Ambolodto said
Gov. Nancy Catamco has also condemned the killings.
Catamco, chairperson of the North Cotabato inter-agency peace and order council, said Sunday she has directed the provincial police to enlist the help of the local government unit of Kabacan in identifying the suspects in the ambush of the nine Moro men.
The ambushers escaped before responding police officers and barangay officials could reach the crime scene.