MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Investigators are still trying to identify the gunmen behind Monday night’s attack at a peasant enclave in Pandag town that left three villagers dead and injured three others.
Pandag municipality, home to ethnic Maguindanaons and a few Christian families, is located in the second district of Maguindanao province.
Lt. Col. Ricky Bunayog, commanding officer of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion, said their intelligence operatives are now helping the Pandag municipal police investigate on the incident.
Gunmen reportedly surrounded houses in an interior village in Pandag at dusk time Monday and opened fire, killing two children and a pregnant woman.
Local police investigators said there were indications that the gunmen were after Marco Mamacong, a security guard in an agricultural plantation in the area.
Responding policemen recovered from the scene spent M-16 and M-14 rifle shells, indicating that the culprits had used assault rifles in the shooting frenzy.
Three villagers wounded in the attack were rushed to a hospital for medication, according to local officials.