FILE PHOTO
DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao del Norte — A powerful improvised bomb went off on Wednesday morning in Maguindanao del Sur, leaving a village leader and two others critically injured.
Brigadier General Oriel Pangcog, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, identified the slain official as Jun “Datu Manot” Silongan of Barangay Penditen in Datu Salibo town.
The blast occurred around 8:45 a.m. as Silongan, Penditen councilor Salik Datua and an unidentified civilian were walking home from a visit to the village hall of nearby Barangay Ganta of Shariff Saydona town.
Rico Torino, Datu Salibo municipal information officer, said Silongan and his companions were leaving the barangay hall premises when the bomb exploded, killing him instantly from shrapnel injuries in the head and body.
Datua and the unidentified civilian were injured and brought to a hospital in Midsayap town, Cotabato.
Pangcog said Penditen in Datu Salibo is adjacent to Barangay Ganta of Shariff Saydona.
Silongan is the younger brother of Datu Salibo Councilor Desmon, who was killed on April 17 while alighting from his car in front of the town hall to attend a Sangguniang Bayan session.
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