7-year-old girl kidnapped in North Cotabato town

COTABATO City, Philippines—A seven-year-old girl was snatched by two men in Pikit, North Cotabato, Monday afternoon, authorities said.

In a report to the regional police command, the Pikit police said the victim was with her mother walking along Ferenal street in Poblacion Pikit, when two men riding in tandem on a motorbike arrived at 12:50 p.m.

One of the men grabbed the girl from her horrified mother, Elsie, curtly telling her they were kidnapping her daughter, and sped toward Barangay (village) Gli-gli, also in Pikit.

According to local authorities, Gli-gli is suspected as a refuge of lawless armed groups.

Local authorities withheld the girl’s name, but Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz in Manila identified the victim as Keshia Jel Navarro.

North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Lala Mendoza has ordered the police to immediately conduct pursuit operations.

Brigadier General Rey Ardo, chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, ordered the 7th Infantry Battalion, based in Poblacion Pikit, to conduct parallel pursuit operations with the Pikit PNP.—With Danica Hermogenes, INQUIRER.net