2 students killed in MSU-Marawi campus

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Investigators are still clueless on the murder of two students inside the supposedly secured campus of the Mindanao State University in Marawi City at about dusk Sunday.

Brig. Gen. Eden Ugale, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Tuesday he has directed the Marawi City police to immediately identify the killers of college students Omar Zinal and Hamzah Rauf for prosecution.

A suspected hired killer casually approached the duo while at a pathway near the graduate school building of the state-run university and repeatedly shot them with a pistol, killing them both instantly.

Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. and Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra have condemned the atrocity in separate statements Monday.

Marawi City is the capital of Lanao del Sur, a component-province of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“The Marawi City police office had also been directed to tap the help of school officials in identifying the culprits," Ugale said.

Talks have been spreading around purporting that only one of the two victims could be the target of the attack.

Local police probers are still trying to connect with potential witnesses to the murder of Zinal and Rauf, who hailed from Lanao de Sur’s Taraka and Baloi towns, respectively.