Soldier gunned down in Cotabato

From the Mindanao Examiner (Jul 15): Soldier gunned down in Cotabato

Two motorcycle gunmen shot dead an army soldier in a daring attack Wednesday in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, a spokeswoman for the 6^th Infantry Division, said the gunmen also took the soldier’s money and fled after the killing. She said the soldier, who was also a member of the Military Police, just came from a bank and was on his way to the army base on his motorcycle when gunmen attacked him.

“A soldier died today after withdrawing savings money from a financial institution in Cotabato City.
 He was clad in his civilian clothing and was on board his personal single motorcycle when two ruthless persons who were riding in tandem went after his hard earned money and took his life with it,” Petinglay said.

“That soldier is one of the common faces I often see in the command headquarters building being one of the members of the Color Guard and one of the dutiful MP personnel who guards the front doors of the command,” she added.

The motive of the killing is still unknown and no individual claimed responsibility for the attack.

Just recently, suspected members of the jihadist group Khilafah Islamiyah Movement or KIM also ambushed a group of army soldiers in Lanao del Norte’s Pantar town that killed one member of the 4th Mechanized Battalion.

Over a dozen of gunmen ambushed a squad of the 42nd Company while the soldiers were travelling in a truck. Six soldiers were also wounded in the attack.

The KIM, a black flag movement which pledged allegiance to the ISIS, is an emerging jihadist movement in Southern Philippines fighting for an independent state.

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