Cotabato City—Three separate investigations were set to be conducted following a mortar shelling incident which killed two minors on Eidl Fitr Sunday in Barangay Kitango, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao, the Bangsamoro government said on Wednesday.
The official information arm of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said BARMM’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) was closely working with the police for the probe of the incident, in which 14 others were wounded.
The BARMM Bureau of Public Information also said the Armed Forces of the Philippines’Western Mindanao Command and 6th Infantry Division and the Philippine National Police were doing “parallel investigation on the mortar shelling that killed two minors and wounded several others.”
MILG Minister Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo on Monday said he met with WestMinCom’s Major General Cirilito Sobejana and 6ID’s Major General Diosdado Carreon to plan for the investigation in order “to get to the bottom of this incident and to avoid making hasty conclusions pending the completion of the investigations.”
Sinarimbo, also the spokesperson of BARMM, assured that the Office of the Chief Minister (OCM) will take care of the needs of the victims.
“He (Chief Minister Ahod ‘Al-Haj Murad’ Ebrahim) has directed the appropriate offices in the regional autonomous government to conduct an impartial investigation to unearth the truth,” Sinarimbo said.
The minister, on Monday, also visited Sitio Amai Zailon, Barangay Kitango in Datu Saudi Ampatuan— the scene of the mortar shelling— to conduct site inspection and community dialogue with the victims, including the father of the two minor female fatalities.
“We also visited the victims both at the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) and Maguindanao Provincial Hospital to provide them assistance and learn the facts first hand from them,” Sinarimbo said.
Early on, the Bangsamoro Government issued condemnation against the violence that took lives of innocent minors and injured many others including the mother of the victims.
“This violence committed against hapless civilians is totally inhumane and evil, occurring as it did on what is supposed to be a festive day of Eid’l Fitr,” the statement said.
The violence “also compounds the present difficulties of our people as they struggle through with the COVID-19 pandemic. Only the heartless criminals can commit such a wicked act,” the statement added.