Police still clueless on latest Cotabato ambush

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Authorities are facing a blank wall regarding the identities of armed men who staged an ambush along the national highway in Barangay Kibayao in Carmen, North Cotabato, Monday.

Police said the attack killed a truck passenger identified only in his nickname as "Dondon". Wounded in the incident were Gaudencio dela Pena, truck driver from General Santos City, and Ronnie Camingao, truck helper from Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

Police said the victims, on board a truck driven by dela Pena, were heading towards Carmen town when waylaid by still unidentified armed men along the highway in Barangay Kibayao around 11 p.m. Monday.

Dondon died on the spot while the two others were rushed to the Cotabato Provincial Hospital in Kidapawan City on Tuesday, reports said.

The survivors told the police they have stayed for hours inside the truck pretending to be dead for fear the armed men will return and finished them off.

The driver told the police a still unidentified trader in General Santos City hired them to proceed to Carmen town to carry some goods back to the city.

But even before they reached the area, they were attacked by still unidentified gunmen.

After the victims were robbed of their cash and other personal belongings, the suspects fled towards the interior portion of Barangay Kibayao.

As soon as the information about the attack reached the Army and the police, they immediately conducted pursuit operations and highway inspection, according to Chief Inspector Jordine Maribojo, chief of Carmen Municipal Police Station.

The police are clueless as to the identities of the suspects.

The latest attack orchestrated by armed men along the highway in Carmen town was not the first, reports said.

On April 11, a bus was bombed in North Cotabato province along Carmen highway, killing three passengers and wounding 18 others. The bomb went off on the Rural Transit bus as it pulled into a terminal in Carmen town.

Police hinted extortion as the motive behind the blast.

In Oct. 12, 2010, unidentified suspects flagged down a motorcycle with three people on board and shot dead a couple along Carmen highway. The other passenger was able to run and seek cover, reports said.

The suspects carted the couple's black motorcycle after they shot the victims. (Malu Cadelina Manar)