AFP, police hunt down gunmen in soldier's ambush in North Cotabato

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 23): AFP, police hunt down gunmen in soldier's ambush in North Cotabato
 
Joint and military forces are now hunting down a group of armed men who ambushed and seriously wounded a soldier in Aleosan, North Cotabato Monday noon.

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said about four armed men waylaid Corporal Usop Pasandalan of the 40th Infantry Battalion in Sitio Tubac, Barangay Pagangan, Aleosan, North Cotabato.

Pasandalan of Pikit, North Cotabato was driving his motorcycle en route to his place of assignment in Aleosan when the ambush occurred.

Pasandalan, 37, was rushed by passersby to Amado Diaz Hospital in Midsayap, North Cotabato but due to his serious gunshot wounds in his stomach, he was later transferred to Camp Siongco Hospital inside the 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

He was a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) integrated into the Philippine military following the signing of the MNLF-GHP peace accord in 1996.

The ambush on Pasandalan was followed by a shooting of a Muslim datu right inside his home in nearby Midsayap, also in North Cotabato.

Police identified the victim as Datu Geli Ottoh Minang, 53, of Barangay Poblacion 3, Midsayap who is now in critical condition at a hospital in Midsayap.

Unidentified armed men barged into the house of Minang and without provocation shot him point blank at 6:30 p.m.

Minang’s neighbor, Arnel Umalca, 36, was hit by stray bullets. The suspects fled after the shooting and police believed personal grudge motivated the suspects in shooting.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=547191