4 die, 3 hurt in North Cotabato massacre

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Four members of a family, three of them children, were killed while three others were wounded when unidentified armed men strafed their house with bullets in a remote village in Carmen town in North Cotabato, around 730 p.m., Monday. Superintendent Bernard Tayong, spokesman for the Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO), identified the victims as Sarah Agal, 9 Pama Agal, 10 Mustafa Agal, 12 and Ibrahim Agal, 50, all residents of Barangay Ugalingan, Carmen. Wounded were Mokamad Agal, 18 Nashrudin Agal, 9 and Jerry Agal, 42, also residents of Barangay Ugalingan, Carmen. Tayong said the victims were inside the Agal compound when the suspects, all armed with high-powered rifles, fired them bullets. Two of the victims, both children, died on the spot, while the other two expired while being treated at the Cotabato Provincial Hospital in Barangay Amas, this city. All of them sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies, Tayong said. Romulo Lavisores, chairman of Barangay Ugalingan, said the Agal family was originally from Barangay Manili, also in Carmen town, and evacuated to his village after they were attacked by an armed group few months ago. The strafing incident could be caused by ‘rido’or clan wars, police said. Authorities had already launched pursuit operations against the suspects.