COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A gunman shot dead Monday an Islamic preacher who helped promote the projects of a bloc of Muslim clerics supporting the Mindanao peace process.
Major John Vincent Bravo, chief of the Cotabato City Police Precinct 2, told reporters Tuesday that the victim, Mohammad Hessam Midtimbang, was about to drive his car that was parked along Governor Gutierrez Avenue when a man shot him six times with a .45 caliber pistol.
Midtimbang works in the Bangsamoro Darul Iftah, also known as the House of Opinions, which promotes cultural and religious solidarity among Muslim, Christians and indigenous non-Moro communities in southern cities and provinces.
The 32-year-old Midtimbang, who belonged to a large ethnic Maguindanaon noble clan in Maguindanao del Sur, also hosted a peace-advocacy program over a local radio station for the religious entity that he worked for.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro, said Tuesday their intelligence units are helping investigators identify the killer.