COTABATO CITY -- Police and Army Special Forces have launched manhunt operations against two men who shot dead a father of the bride and injured the groom during a Muslim wedding rites here Thursday morning.
Chief Insp. Reynaldo Delatien, city police substation 2 commander, said that they are working closely with the 5th Army Special Force Battalion and Army’s 6th Infantry Division to get the culprits behind the incident.
Delatien identified the fatality as Hadji Nasifh Abdullah Sampiano, 52, former village chair of Barangay Purakan, Balabagan, Lanao del Sur and the injured as Abil Gampong Balindong, 35, resident of Malabang, Lanao del Sur.
The shooting occurred after the wedding rites of Balindong and Sampiano’s daughter in a Muslim rite inside the mosque of the Mall of Alnor in Barangay Rosary Heights 9 here shortly before noon.
One of the gunmen, armed with 9-mm pistol, opened fire on Sampiano several times, hitting him in the head and body. Stray bullets hit Balindong who was standing nearby. Both were rushed to Cotabato Regional and Medical Center situated just across the mall but Sampiano was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians.
Investigators are still are still trying to determine the motive of the attack.
Witnesses said the shooting occurred so fast that everybody was caught by surprise since the crime scene was a holy place. (PNA)
