Suspected drug dealers summarily executed

TACURONG CITY, Philippines - Unidentified gunmen executed gangland style four suspected drug dealers, two of them women, before dawn Monday at the city’s border with Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat.

Superintendent Junny Buenacosa, chief of the city police, said Manuel Rafael, Felix Rodrigo, Rhea Ramirez and Joan Mamon died on the spot from gunshot wounds sustained in the attack.

The victims were on their way to the town proper of Lambayong on board a tricycle when six still unidentified men flagged them down, herded them to one side of the highway where they were shot one after another while lying on the pavement face down.

Buenacosa said investigators are convinced the victims were engaged in drug trafficking, but declined to elaborate.

The victims’ companion, Regine Dalogdog, survived the shooting frenzy with a bullet wound in the neck.

Responding barangay officials rushed Dalogdog to a hospital for medication.