Injured	Killed
1	1

Date: 12 April 2010
Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=565924&publicationSubCategoryId=200

Gunmen rob bus, kill soldier on board in Cotabato
(philstar.com) Updated April 12, 2010 09:01 PM

DAVAO, Philippines (Xinhua) – Suspected muslim militants robbed a passenger bus on Sunday in the restive southern Philippines, leaving a Filipino soldier dead and a civilian wounded, police said on Monday.

The attackers boarded the bus at a bus depot in Pikit, a township in the province of North Cotabato where the country’s largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is active.

Army Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman, said on Monday that the suspects, numbering to eight, declared around 5:00 p.m. on Sunday a robbery and at gunpoint ordered the bus driver to stop his bus along the national highway in the village of Dalingawen.

The robbers immediately took all the passengers’ valuables, mobile phones, wallets, and the bus conductor’s collection, Cabangbang said.

A witness told police investigators that the robbers shot a soldier on board before they left. A civilian was also hit by a stray bullet.

Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, denied involvement of the MILF in this attack.

The 11,900-strong MILF seeking a separate Islamic state in the southern part of the Philippines is currently engaged in peace talks with the Philippine government.