2 killed, 3 hurt in Cotabato gun attacks

COTABATO CITY — Two Moro villagers were killed and three others wounded in separate gun attacks across two adjoining towns in Cotabato province, all within the span of just two days.

The first to perish in the three attacks was Bayan Pangulagoy, who was killed in an ambush on Saturday afternoon, February 8, in Barangay Punol, Pikit, Cotabato.

Ranking officials of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office told reporters on Monday, February 10, that Pangulagoy and his cousin, Mohaimen Pangulagoy, were riding a motorcycle together when a man armed with an M16 assault rifle, positioned along the route, opened fire as they approached.

Pangulagoy died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in the attack, which also left his relative wounded.

Another Moro villager, Johari Santi, was killed when gunmen fired assault rifles at their house in Barangay Dalingaoen, Pikit, at about midnight on Saturday.

Col. Gilbert Tuzon, Cotabato provincial police director, said the wife of the slain Santi, a farmer, was seriously wounded in the incident.

Ustadz Hashim Suboh, a Muslim preacher, was critically wounded in another ambush on Sunday morning in Barangay Salunayan, Midsayap, Cotabato.

Suboh was an Islamic theologian who preached in Moro communities in Barangay Tumbras, Kadayangan, a newly created Bangsamoro town encompassing barangays that were originally part of the Midsayap local government unit in Cotabato.

Officials from the Midsayap Municipal Police Station said Suboh, a resident of Barangay Tumbras, was riding his motorcycle on his way somewhere when men waiting on the side of the road shot him with .45 caliber pistols and quickly fled.

The wounded Suboh was immediately taken to a hospital by policemen and barangay officials who responded to the incident.