3 farmers dead in Lanao Norte gun attack

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two men killed with assault rifles three farmers on Tuesday in a remote barangay in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.

Major Joe Mark F. Capitle, chief of the Kauswagan municipal police, said Wednesday the duo first killed with M16 and M14 rifles the farmer Undoh D. Alfante and, subsequently, shot dead one after another his two neighbors, Mark Y. Maglangit and his brother, Mike Y. Maglangit, before they fled.

Citing initial findings by responding probers, Capitle said Alfante was busy working in an orchard farm in Barangay Inudaran in Kauswagan when the culprits arrived, opened fire and finished him off with more shots in the head.

The two men also attacked the Maglangit siblings while approaching the scene to check on the gunshots that reverberated through the surroundings, killing them both instantly.

Capitle said local government officials and barangay leaders in Inudaran are helping the personnel of the Kauswagan Municipal Police Station identify the two men for immediate prosecution.