Lanao del Sur ambush leaves 3 Maranaws dead, another hurt

COTABATO CITY — Three ethnic Maranaws riding a tricycle were killed while another was wounded in an ambush in Barangay Masao in Pualas, Lanao del Sur on Sunday afternoon. 

In separate reports on Monday, local officials and the Pualas Municipal Police Station identified the fatalities as Pendaton Polayagan, 54; Tarapas Polayagan, 32; and the 26-year-old Mutilan Polayagan, who died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

The fourth tricycle passenger, Benjamin Polayagan, 25, was seriously wounded in the attack.

The Polayagans were on their way to somewhere when gunmen attacked them at a secluded stretch of a farm-to-market road in Barangay Masao.

Their attackers fled to different directions after they opened fire at the tricycle carrying the four victims.

Intelligence agents from the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and personnel of the Pualas MPS are working together to identify the perpetrators of the deadly ambush.

Barangay officials in Masao told reporters that they are helping the police locate the culprits.