Two soldiers wounded in Basilan gun attack

COTABATO CITY — Gunmen wounded two off-duty soldiers while at a roadside store in Tipo-Tipo town in Basilan on Monday.

Officials of the Basilan Provincial Police Office and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) identified the wounded soldiers as Pfc. Mark Antony D. Libo and Pfc. Jomare L. Sadjail of the Army’s 45^th Infantry Battalion (IB), now both confined to a hospital.

Citing reports by police units in Basilan, Brig. Gen. Jaysen C. De Guzman, director of PRO-BAR, said on Monday that Mr. Libo and Mr. Sadjail were about to leave the store where they procured some provisions, when one of two men riding a motorcycle came close to shoot them repeatedly with a pistol. The duo immediately left amid the commotion.

The wounded Mr. Lido and Mr. Sadjail, both assigned to the nearby base of the Bravo Company of the 45^th IB, were immediately brought by emergency responders to a hospital in Lamitan City for treatment.

Governor Mujiv S. Hataman, chairman of the multi-sector Basilan Provincial Peace and Order Council, has condemned the incident and ordered local executives to help investigators from the Tipo-Tipo Municipal Police Station and Army intelligence agents identify the perpetrators of the atrocity for prosecution.

Mr. De Guzman said barangay officials in Tipo-Tipo have assured to help the police put a closure to the incident. — John Felix M. Unson