Riding-in-tandem gunmen kill 3 in NoCot town

COTABATO CITY – Authorities launched manhunt operations against gunmen, who separately killed three persons in Kabacan, North Cotabato, on Sunday.

Supt. Maximo Layugan, North Cotabato police director, said the military-backed manhunt operations aim to capture the gunmen who killed Abdulbasi Limbucan, and the couple Rebecca, 48, and Danny Ballasama, 50, all residents of Poblacion Kabacan.

Limbucan, a tricycle driver, was shot by a motorcycle riding-in-tandem while driving along USM (University of Southern Mindanao) Avenue, Kabacan at 9 a.m. Police recovered empty shells for .45-caliber pistol.

“Police investigators are still trying to determine the identities of the culprits behind the killing of Limbucan,” the police official said in a statement.

At about 2 p.m. on the same day, two men onboard a motorcycle also fired on the Bellasama couple who were aboard a separate motorbike along Abellera St. in Barangay Poblacion, of the same town.

“The husband was killed on the spot and his wife expired while undergoing medication at a hospital,” Layugan said.

Layugan believed that the two shooting incidents were triggered by personal grudge. (PNA)