Militiaman, minor dead in North Cotabato ambush

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Religious extremists killed a militiaman and a minor in an ambush in Aleosan, North Cotabato Thursday, June 24.

The fatalities, Martinio Ruben, 63, a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit, and the 13-year-old Archie Pableo, were together in a motorcycle when men shot them with M16 assault rifles while motoring through a farm-to-market road in Barangay Tapodoc, Aleosan.

They both died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Barangay officials are certain members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters were responsible for the fatal ambush of the duo.

The BIFF, which has a reputation for brutality on non-Muslims, is operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Gunmen killed last month in an interior area in Aleosan two Visayan collectors of a money-lending outfit in a daring attack that remained unsolved.