2 dead, barangay councilor hurt in Central Mindanao gun attack

COTABATO CITY — A school teacher and her relative were killed, while a barangay councilor was wounded, when gunmen shot with assault rifles adjoining houses in the newly created Bansamoro Nabalawag town in Cotabato province before dawn Wednesday, January 29.

Local executives and officials from the Police Regional Office Bangsamoro Autonomous Region told reporters at noon on Wednesday that the fatalities, Nurhani Sangki Tayuan, a government school teacher, and her relative, initially identified only as Pikong, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the attack.

The incident also left Saddam Abdullah Tayuan, the husband of the slain teacher and an incumbent member of Barangay Kudarangan in Nabalawag, wounded.

Nabalawag is one of the eight newly established Bangsamoro towns in the Special Geographic Area of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, located within Cotabato province in Region 12. 

PRO-BAR officials and investigators from Nabalawag’s municipal police force told reporters that men armed with assault rifles approached the victims’ house in Barangay Kudarangan from two directions and opened fire.

According to barangay officials, the gunmen also shot at nearby houses before fleeing the scene.