2 trike drivers killed in Central Mindanao gun attacks

COTABATO CITY — Two tricycle drivers were killed in separate ambushes within just nine hours on Sunday, February 23, in two neighboring areas in Central Mindanao. 

Senior officials from the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Cotabato City Police Office told reporters on Monday, February 24, that efforts are underway to locate the killers of Saber Mohamad and Mael Malang.

Mohamad was driving his tricycle in Barangay Dalican, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, when he was attacked on Sunday morning by a gunman positioned along the route, killing him instantly.

Local officials and investigators from the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station told reporters that the assailant escaped amid the commotion triggered by the gunshots that echoed through the area.

Datu Odin Sinsuat is located about 40 kilometers south of Cotabato City, where Malang, also a tricycle driver, was killed in a similar attack at dusk on Sunday.

Like Mohamad, Malang was driving his tricycle in Barangay Rosary Heights 9 in Cotabato City when an attacker shot him with a pistol.

The neighboring Datu Odin Sinsuat, one of the 12 towns in Maguindanao del Norte, and Cotabato City are both in the core territory of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Cotabato City police director, said their investigators and community leaders are cooperating in putting closure to the attack that left Malang dead.