4 killed, 2 hurt in Kabacan ambush

NORTH COTABATO --- Four persons were killed while two others were wounded in separate ambush incidents early Friday in the outskirts of Kabacan town in North Cotabato.Senior Inspector Randy Apostol of the Kabacan municipal police said the fatalities in the first ambush asFranz Villanueva, 28, Jerry Uyanguren, 52, and his 48-year-old brother, Roland, all died instantly from bullet wounds.The victims were on motorcycles en route to Barangay Aringay in Kabacan from a cockpit in a nearby village when masked men armed with M-16 assault rifles attacked while they were motoring through a bridge.Two of their companions,Calixto Villasor, 41 and Richie Daniles,32, were badly wounded in the shooting frenzy.The gunmen hurriedly scampered away when they sensed that responding volunteer community watchmen armed with shotguns and barangay officials were closing in.Kabacan Mayor Herlo Guzman, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, said investigators are still to establish the identities of the culprits.The ambush incident was followed by a gun attack an hour later in Barangay Kayaga in Kabacan that resulted in the death of 32-year-old farmer Jess Francisco.Francisco was on his way home to nearby Carmen town, also in North Cotabato, riding a Yamaha DT motorcycle when two men armed with .45 caliber pistols flagged him down and opened fire.He sustained eight bullet wounds in different parts of his body.The suspects finished him off with shots to the chest as he fell from his motorcycle before they escaped to a nearby rice farm.Below is the victims' pot won in the cockfight. (Photo by Rhod Benez) Image may contain shoes sand//scontent.fceb2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15727341_10206300719516790_6807046680452447111_n.jpg?oh=d546d0a9e4aaf0040d3cfd1db3426ee0andampoe=58E68014