Gunmen kill trader in Sultan Kudarat highway

ESPERANZA, Sultan Kudarat-- Motorcycle-riding men on Wednesday killed in Esperanza town a trader whom police said had a shady personality” and touted as a drug trafficker in disguise.Rakel Delna was driving his jeep at a stretch of a highway straddling through the town center of Esperanza when one of two men riding a motorcycle together repeatedly shot him from behind with a pistol.Delna was pronounced dead on arrival by attending physicians in a nearby hospital where he was rushed by responding policemen and community leaders.Local police probers said the suspects sped away after Delna slumped on the steering wheel after having been hit thrice in different parts of his body.Police crime scene experts recovered inside Delna’s jeep an unlicensed Taurus 9 millimeter pistol, which he owned.Local official said Delna’s brother had earlier been jailed for drug trafficking.His father had also survived a near fatal gun attack several years ago.Delna was himself implicated in two separate murder offenses in years past, one in Esperanza and the other in Sharif Aguak town in nearby Maguindanao province.