2 motorists dead in Pikit ambush

COTABATO CITY --- Gunmen killed in an ambush two men riding a motorcycle together on Sunday night in the troubled Pikit town in Cotabato, where more than 50 people perished in gun attacks since 2020.

Capt. John Arvin Cambang, chief of the Pikit municipal police, told reporters Monday Jamer Pundato Ebrahim, 21, and the 20-year-old Muhaliden Sangbaan Amer, were on their way to somewhere when they were shot with pistols by men positioned along the road at the border of Barangays Ladtingan and Calawag in the municipality.

Ebrahim and Amer, Moro Maguindanaons, died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Pikit, located in the first district of Cotabato province, has been hitting the news for more than two years due to the unending spate of gun attacks in the area.

Records from the police, barangay officials and the Army’s 90^th Infantry Battalion indicate that 56 people had been killed in one gun attack after another in different barangays in Pikit since 2020.

Cambang said police investigators and barangay officials are trying to identify the culprits in Sunday night’s atrocity that left Ebrahim and Amer dead.