2 Moro motorists die in nighttime Cotabato ambush

COTABATO CITY — Unidentified gunmen killed two men riding a motorcycle on Sunday night in the troubled Pikit town in Cotabato, where more than 50 people perished in gun attacks since 2020.

Capt. John Arvin Cambang, chief of the Pikit municipal police, told reporters Monday that Jamer Pundato Ebrahim, 21, and the 20-year-old Muhaliden Sangbaan Amer, were on their way to somewhere when they were shot with pistols by men positioned along the road at the border of Barangays Ladtingan and Calawag in the municipality.

Ebrahim and Amer, both Moro Maguindanaons, both died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Pikit, located in the first district of Cotabato province, has been making headlines for more than two years now owing to the unending spate of gun attacks in the area.

Records from the police, barangay officials and the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion indicate that 56 people had been killed in one gun attack after another in different barangays in Pikit since 2020. 

Cambang said police investigators and barangay officials are working together to identify the culprits in Sunday night’s atrocity that left Ebrahim and Amer dead.