3 dead, 2 hurt in Maguindanao del Sur gun attacks

COTABATO CITY— Three individuals, including a volunteer community watchman, were killed and two others wounded in separate gun attacks across three towns in Maguindanao del Sur over a span of just three days.

A Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) member, Jordan Balayman, died from multiple bullet wounds when gunmen in a minivan shot him and his companions while they were on duty near a gasoline station in the town center of Shariff Aguak on Sunday afternoon, May 18.

Local officials, including Shariff Aguak Mayor Akmad Ampatuan and representatives from the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Monday, May 19, that the attack also wounded two other BPAT members.

The attackers immediately fled and are now the subject of a joint manhunt by the Shariff Aguak Municipal Police and troops from the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade.

Three BPAT members were killed in separate gun attacks across different areas of Shariff Aguak within just three weeks leading up to the May 12 elections.

Local executives and Shariff Aguak police officials believe the attacks are connected and are working together to identify the perpetrators for prosecution.

The deadly incident in Shariff Aguak on Monday was preceded by the fatal ambush of Moro villager Lakmudin Uga on Friday, May 16, in Pandag, Maguindanao del Sur, by gunmen whom police investigators and local officials are still trying to identify. 

Uga and his wife were riding a motorcycle when gunmen attacked them in Barangay Kayaga, Pandag. Uga was killed, while his wife was wounded and is now recovering in a hospital.

Two residents were killed, and an elderly woman was seriously wounded in crossfire between two rival partisan groups armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers, who clashed in two adjoining barangays in Pandag a week before the May 12 elections

Lakmudin’s cousin, Allan Uga, was killed in a separate ambush on Saturday, May 17, near the town center of Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur, not far from Pandag.

The victim, also from Pandag, was riding a tricycle en route to Buluan's town center when gunmen attacked, killing him instantly. Local officials and police in Pandag and Buluan believe the ambushes that claimed the lives of the Uga cousins may be linked, possibly stemming from a grudge with their attackers.