Kindergarten pupil killed by stray bullet in Maguindanao del Sur

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February 11, 2026 | 7:39pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A Moro kindergarten pupil died instantly after he got hit with a stray bullet in the head while inside their classroom in Barangay Damabalas in Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur on Wednesday morning, February 11.

Capt. Steffi Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters at noon Wednesday that the five-year-old boy, who was sitting on a chair, close to his classmates, inside their room in the Damabalas Elementary School, fell on the floor after he was hit by a stray bullet in the head.

Ludtia’s teacher, Babylonia Biao, said he died immediately on the floor of their classroom in the campus of the Damabalas Elementary School in Barangay Damabalas.

Local officials and traditional Moro community leaders said two rival families, armed with assault rifles, were exchanging shots then at the nearby Barangay Ulandang in nearby Nabalawag, a newly-created town under the Bangsamoro regional government, but is inside the territory of Cotabato province in Region 12.

School officials and policemen who responded to the incident immediately turned over the body of Ludtia to his parents for immediate burial in keeping with Islamic tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours after death.