(UPDATE) Gunmen attack Cotabato City coastal village, 2 killed, 1 hurt
• 17:42 PM Thu Oct 29, 2015
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By:
DXMS Radyo Bida and Ferdinandh Cabrera
One of the houses in Purok Lupapakan, Barangay Kalanganan 2 still burning when police and military arrived in the area after gunmen stormed the village Thursday Oct. 29, 2015. (Photo by Ferdinandh Cabrera)
COTABATO CITY –
Two persons were killed and another was wounded when unidentified gunmen barged
into a coastal village here Thursday dawn, strafed several houses and torched
some in what appeared to be an offshoot of a clan war involving two Morofamilies,
officials said.
Supt. Rex
Anongos, Cotabato City police director, identified the fatalities as Abubakar
Guiamalel and Bapa Guia, both residents of Purok Lupapakan, Barangay Kalanganan
2, Cotabato City. Another unidentified villager was wounded in the 5 a.m.
attack.
Quoting witnesses,
Anongos said about 20 to 30 armed men on board a motorized boat arrived in the
village located near Timako Hill and strafed several houses situated in the
middle of a fish pond owned by former Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema.
An elderly
woman named Babo Ponining told police investigators she and her family were
awakened by a series of gun bursts and the eventual burning of several houses.
We were
surprised by the gun bursts, we took cover and ran for our lives to different
directions as the gunmen continued firing,” she said.
Babo Ponining
and several villagers have fled to nearby barangay to seek refuge as long as
tension remained in Purok Lupapakan.
Police and
members of Army Special Forces responded but the attackers were already
gone. The PNP’s Scene of the Crime
Operatives (SOCO) recovered at least 75 pieces of empty shells for M-16
Armalite rifle, Garand rifle, AK-47 and M-14 rifle and rifle grenades.
Sema, in a
phone interview, admitted the crime scene was part of his fish pond. I was not
the target or my workers in the fish farm,” Sema, chairman of the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF), said.
Sema believed
the incident could be an offshoot of last Monday’s deadly ambush in Barangay
Dulangan, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao that killed five persons all belonging
to Ayunan clan.
He admitted
that the rido” (clan war) has affected him since the warring clans were his
close relatives. He did not identify the
warring families, though.
Sema said he was
trying his best to mediate and help settle the family feud to save the lives of
civilians, women and children from both sides.
We have no
information so far about the identities of the attackers and what motivated
them to storm the village,” Anongos said, adding investigation is still going
on. sand//fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11216812_1196180477075034_8058280522865256786_n.jpg?oh=a743518f4c94eac764cfbe0d36049a6eandampoe=56BC4EAEandamp__gda__=1454468497_8959cd4e742c74dd7e6b0fd2edccfd4b (Police and Army personnel who responded to attacks in Barangay Kalanganan 2, Cotabato City look for empty shells and filmed ammunition magazine left by attackers. -photo by Ferdinandh Cabrera) Cotabato City
Mayor Japal Guiani Jr has directed the police to deploy peacekeepers in the
adjoining villages of Kalangana 1 and 2 and nearby villages to prevent warring
families from seeing each other while efforts are underway to settle the
conflict. (Ferdinandh Cabrera) sand//fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t34.0-12/12179858_10205396501777953_1621534883_n.jpg?oh=f59a5b0ddca3b8e994eacca655fe7a67andampoe=563387ACandamp__gda__=1446279553_bb15c1c6a6cf3aa68a43760ec07363c0 (This is what left of a house in Purok Lupapakan, Kalanganan 2, Cotabato City after gunmen strafed and torched villagers' homes. - Photo by Wilnard Bacelonia)