Gunmen shoot teen to death, hurt 2 others in Shariff Aguak

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines ---- Two men riding a motorcycle together gunned down a high school student and wounded two others Monday afternoon in Shariff Aguak town.

Local officials said the victims, all minors, were on their way home from school when their attackers, who were riding a motorcycle together, blocked their path and, without warning, shot them with two .45 caliber pistols.

The fatality,  a 15-year-old,  died from gunshot wounds in different parts of his body.

the victim’s wounded classmates, whose names were withheld by the police pending the outcome of on-going investigation, were rushed to a hospital for medication.

The shooting incident came less than 24 hours after suspected members of the brigand Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters set off a roadside bomb along a stretches of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Shariff Aguak.

The improvised explosive, planted at one side of the highway, went off past 9:00 a.m. Sunday just as a convoy of soldiers led by Col. Noli Orense, commanding officer of the Army’s 603rd Brigade, was passing by, en route to the venue of the mass oath-taking of elected provincial and municipal officials in Buluan town, also in Maguindanao.

One of Orense’s subordinate-soldier Pfc. Reynaldo Sotto, and a still unidentified motorist, who was said to be an off duty member of the Philippine Marines, and a bystander were slightly wounded in the blast.

Orense said the blasting contraption of the explosive, triggered  by a  mobile phone, could have malfunctioned since they were already past the spot where it was planted when it went off.

The bombing preceded another blast in a secluded spot also in Shariff Aguak about four hours later.

No one was reported killed or injured in the second bombing, but the incident triggered panic in the area. - John Unson