Pa, 3 children killed in shooting incident in North Cotabato

KIDAPAWAN CITY – At least four people—three of them children—were killed when unidentified armed men strafed a house in Barangay (Village) Ugalingan in Carmen, North Cotabato on Monday evening, the police said Tuesday.

Supt. Bernard Tayong, North Cotabato police spokesperson, said two others were injured in the 7 p.m. attack that targeted the Agal family.

Tayong identified the slain victims as Sara, 9; Pama, 10; Mustafa, 12; and Ebrahim, the 50-year-old Agal family patriarch.

The two injured family members were Nasrodin and Jerry, whose ages were not provided. Both victims were being treated at separate hospitals.

Tayong said based on the investigation conducted by the Carmen police, the Agal family was having dinner inside their makeshift home when the armed men arrived and pumped bullets into the house.

He said the four fatalities were instantly killed.

Romulo Labisores, Ugalingan village chair, said the Agal family had moved to the village from Barangay Manili, where unidentified armed men also tried to do them harm, last year.

“That was the reported reason they left Manili and transferred here,” he said.

Labisores said the two attacks could be related and that grudge could be the motive.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza has directed the local police to conduct investigation, identify and arrest the suspects so they could be prosecuted for their crime.