SUSPECTED RELIGIOUS extremists shot dead Monday an off-duty militiaman in Pikit town, the fourth murder of a paramilitary volunteer in the province in about four months. Chief Inspector Donald Cabigas of the Pikit municipal police said the fatality, Gilbert Samonte, Sr., was cutting grass along a stretch of a highway in Barangay Dalingaoen when two men on a motorcycle arrived, pulled over and fired at him. The suspects also shot and wounded Mr. Samonte’s son, Gilbert Jr., who is now confined in a hospital. The suspects escaped before responding soldiers guarding a roadside detachment about 40 meters away arrived at the scene. Local officials are convinced the murder of Mr. Samonte could be related still to the deep-seated animosity among local members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) residing at the border of North Cotabato’s adjoining Aleosan and Pikit towns and Moro guerillas led by Abdulrashid Ali. Ali is known in the military and police intelligence communities as a violent religious extremist wanted for various criminal offenses. Ali’s group is suspected to be behind three earlier fatal attacks on off-duty CAFGUs based in Pikit and Aleosan. — philstar.com

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