COTABATO CITY (John Unson, Sept. 30, 2023) — Gunmen killed an Army sergeant and wounded another in a daring ambush in a busy stretch of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte at noontime Friday.
Lt. Col. Julhamin Asdani, chief of the Sultan Kudarat municipal police, told reporters Saturday Staff Sgt. Darwin Alaba died on the spot from bullet wounds sustained in the attack that left his companion, Pfc. Erwin Villa, badly wounded.
Alaba and Villa, of the Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, were together in a motorcycle on their way to this city when men on motorcycles, positioned along the highway in Sitio Sandakan in Barangay Dalumangcob, shot them with pistols as they got close.
The command post of the 1st BCT is in Barangay Pigcalagan in Sultan Kudarat, about six kilometers northeast of Barangay Dalumangcob.
Witnesses said the men who attacked the duo had escaped immediately using their getaway motorcycles.
Asdani said they have tapped the support of barangay officials in Dalumangcob in trying to identify the culprits for prosecution. (JF UNSON, IN COTABATO CITY)
