Soldier shot dead in Maguindanao

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, MAGUINDANAO – An off-duty soldier was shot dead by still unidentified gunmen in Barangay Semba here Sunday night.

Corporal Sahelbasar Alaja, squad leader of the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion stationed in Barangay Semba, was unarmed and was walking along a provincial road in Barangay Broce when two men riding tandem on a motorbike stopped near him and opened fire, hitting him in various parts of his body.

Responding Datu Odin Sinsuat police rushed the victim to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center but was declared dead on arrival.

Senior Supt. Ronald Briones, Maguindanao police provincial director, has ordered the Datu Odin Sinsuat police to coordinate with the 6th Infantry Division in hunting down the suspects.

Alaja was the fourth soldier slain in Maguindanao and Cotabato City since Thursday last week.

Two infantrymen were killed Thursday in an ambush in Datu Salibo, Maguindanao while another soldier was shot dead along a busy street in Cotabato City on the same day.

Abu Misry Mama, speaking for the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters claimed his group was behind the execution of soldiers in retaliation to Army offensives against them in Maguindanao. /lzb