DATU PIANG, Maguindanao, (PNA) — Police and military authorities here have launched manhunt against five men believed to be members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) who shot dead a soldier and wounded two others.Police Inspector Cesar Ibal Jr, police chief of Datu Piang, on Saturday said the attackers belonged to the BIFF under a certain Commander Salah, son of BIFF founding chair Ameril Umbra Kato.
Ibal identified the slain soldier as Private First Class Ariel Catanos of the 22nd Mechanized Company of the 2nd Infantry Battalion. Wounded were PFC John Robert Sagun, 22 of Nueva Ecija and PFC Eduardo Cabrera of Cotabato City.
Ibal said the three soldiers in civilian clothes were marketing in the town public market when five men on board separate motorbikes arrived at 10:45 a.m. and shot them, using cal. 45 pistol.
Catanos sustained a gunshot wound on his head and expired in a nearby hospital while his companions sustained injuries in the chest.
Capt. Joann Petinglay, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division said soldiers in Maguindanao have been directed to avoid using motorbikes in traveling and doing marketing chores to avoid being easy target of terrorists.