2 merchants dead, companion hurt in Maguindanao del Sur ambush

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September 25, 2026 | 7:04pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two Moro merchants were killed while another was wounded in an ambush in Barangay Pembalkan in Mamasapano, Maguindanao del Sur on Thursday afternoon, September 24.

Captain Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and local executives told reporters on Friday that the ambush victims Fahad Sula and Alfaris Dalinding were both declared dead on arrival by doctors in a hospital where emergency responders brought them for treatment.

The incident left the duo’s companion, Asmawi Bantas, wounded.

The victims were riding a tricycle together, loaded with legal merchandise, including portable sound systems and amplifiers, that they sell in villages in Mamasapano and in nearby towns, when they were waylaid by gunmen in a stretch of a highway in Barangay Pembalkan.

Sula and Dalinding died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in the attack. 

Their attackers immediately escaped using getaway motorcycles.

Talks and text messages are spreading around hinting that the gunmen behind the atrocity could be remnants of the now defunct Dawlah Islamiya terror group, known for their impunity on traders and market vendors who refuse to give them “protection money” on a periodic basis.