Syrian preacher shot dead in new BARMM territory

KIDAPAWAN CITY – In what could be the first serious challenge to officials of the newly-installed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a Syrian Islamic teacher was shot dead, while his wife was wounded, in a daring attack at their residence in Carmen town, North Cotabato Friday night.

Carmen police identified the fatality as Sheik Wasif, a Muslim missionary from Syria who was teaching in a Madrasah (Arabic school) in Barangay Manarapan, while his wife Tayaan Ambag, an ethnic Maguindanaoan Muslim, was wounded in the attack at their home in Barangay Nasapian.

Manarapan and Nasapian, both of Carmen town, are among the 63 villages of North Cotabato that now form part of the infant Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Region 12 police office on Saturday said initial reports indicated that gunmen barged into Wasif’s house Friday night and opened fire, killing him on the spot.

The wounded wife was rushed to the hospital by responding Carmen policemen and barangay officials.

Bereaved kin demanded help from the BARMM governance by way of an “in-depth probe” of the incident.

“The incident must not become part of many unsolved killings in Carmen. BARMM officials can perhaps make the difference. We voted for inclusion in BARMM in the February 6 plebiscite because we want to be safer,” a relative of the wounded wife said in vernacular Saturday night.