1 killed, 3 hurt in North Cotabato ambush

COTABATO City, Philippines—A man was killed while three others were wounded, including a six-year old girl, when unidentified men ambushed a passenger motorbike in a remote village in North Cotabato Sunday at dawn, the military here said.

Quoting a report from the 40th Infantry Battalion under Colonel Rey Galido, Lieutenant Colonel Leopoldo Galon, speaking for the Eastern Mindanao Command, said Allan Labrador, driver of a motorbike converted as passenger vehicle, was killed in an ambush staged by unidentified gunmen at 5:15 a.m. in Sitio (settlement) Matampay, Barangay (village) Poblacion 1, Banisilan, North Cotabato.

Galido said Luz Villa, 24, and her relatives Princes Grace, 6 and Annabel Prael, 13, were wounded.

The victims were on their way to Poblacion 1 when ambushed. Initial Army and police investigations showed the motive could be personal grudge since the victims’ valuables were not taken by the suspects.

Banisilan is a third class municipality with a population of 36,000 people and located in the borders of North Cotabato and Bukidnon.