Marines force armed men out from Cotabato City’s Timako Hill

COTABATO CITY — Combatants of the 6^th Marine Battalion drove away a group armed with assault rifles that attacked two men gathering firewood at the forested Timako Hill in Barangay Kalanganan 2 in this city on Saturday afternoon.

It was residents and Moro community leaders in Barangay Kalanganan 2, supporting the joint law-enforcement efforts of Mayor Bruce C. Matabalao and the Cotabato City Police Office, who led the Marines to the exact location of the gunmen who opened fire at Asraf Talusan Guialal, 33, and his 26-year-old relative, Zaldy Ali Guialal, enabling them to drive away the duo’s attackers after a brief exchange of gunfire.

The Guialals, then gathering fallen dried tree branches at the Timako Hill near Cotabato City’s west coast, survived the attack unscathed.

Col. Jibin M. Bongcayao, director of the Cotabato City police, said the gunmen who shot them ran away when they sensed that more Marines, backed by armored combat vehicles, were closing in.

Residents had told reporters that the gunmen who harassed the two firewood gatherers could have come from a beachfront area west of the Timako Hill. They assured to help identify the culprits for prosecution.

Mr. Bongcayao said Marine combatants and policemen found in the scene of the encounter a chainsaw, five magazines of 5.56 M16 assault rifles, 100 rounds of 5.56-millimeter ammunition and other personal belongings the armed men left as they scampered away. — John Felix M. Unson