COTABATO CITY —Gunmen ambushed and killed a Moro mother, her three-month-old daughter, and their driver in Barangay Mileb, Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur, on Thursday, December 12.
Citing a report from the Radjah Buayan Municipal Police Station, Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Friday, December 13, that the fatalities, Harrah Jinn Utto Lumenda Basalo, her child and Nunokan Manalindo, died from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the attack.
They were traveling together in a minivan, driven by Manalindo, when gunmen ambushed them on a secluded stretch of highway in Barangay Mileb, Radjah Buayan.
The minivan swerved toward the grassy side of the highway and hit a tree when Manalindo lost control of the wheel due to bullet wounds in the head.
The husband of the slain Basalo is a member of an Army unit based in Maguindanao del Sur, according to relatives.
Macapaz said officials of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and local executives are cooperating in identifying the perpetrators of the atrocity for prosecution.
There are Moro clans in Radjah Buayan who are embroiled in deadly feuds triggered by political differences, land disputes and affronts to family pride and honor.
Heavily armed groups linked to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, fighting for control of territories, have been involved in deadly clashes in recent months in remote areas of the municipality, affecting innocent villagers.