NEWSBRIEFS

COTABATO CITY

3 teachers slain

Three Cotabato City-based Arabic school teachers were killed when ambushed by unidentified men in Libungan, North Cotabato, on Sunday.

Libungan town police director Chief Inspector Bernard Tayong said Ustadz Usman Badtingo, Ustadz Usman Abdulla and Ustadz Abdulla Guiamel, all teachers of an Arabic school and residents of Campo Muslim here, were aboard two motorcycles and were heading for Pikit town when fired at around 3 p.m.

Tayong said Abdurakman al-Taib, also an Arabic school teacher, who survived the ambush, told police he had no idea why they were ambushed, as they had no known enemies. Tayong said local police believed the motive could be a personal grudge. Edwin Fernandez and Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao

Village exec killed

Suspected guns for hire shot dead a village councilor of Parang, Maguindanao, who was at the forefront of the local campaign against electoral fraud, while the victim was heading home from his evening prayer at a seaside mosque, officials said on Monday.

Mayor Ibrahim Ibay of Parang, Maguindanao, said Nakir Basag, 44, a councilor of Barangay (village) Limbayan, was walking home after performing the evening prayer following the breaking of fast around 6:30 p.m. when Armalite-wielding gunmen blocked his path and shot him several times.

Ibay said people rushed Basag to the hospital, but he died without receiving medical attention. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao

ZAMBOANGA CITY

OFW beheaded

An overseas Filipino worker on vacation here was brutally killed before being beheaded by the perpetrators on Sunday evening, the police reported on Monday.

Senior Supt. Jose Chiquito Malayo, city police director, said Alraben Jallao, 28, was standing near his home in Marlboro Drive in Barangay Lower Calarian here at past 8 p.m., when repeatedly shot by three gunmen, one of whom was armed with an Armalite rifle.

Malayo said witnesses had told investigators that Jallao apparently knew the suspects. Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao