Injured	Killed
4	0

Date: 17 September 2010
Source: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/provincial/18569-traders-kidnap-foiled-.html

SECURITY forces foiled an attempt by four gunmen to snatch a 54-year old hardware store owner in Midsayap, Cotabato Thursday after exchanging fire with the suspects and forcing them to flee without their target, police said yesterday.

A report from the Police Regional Office 12 said the suspects armed with M-14 rifles and caliber .45 pistols barged inside the FMC Hardware at the corner of Quezon Ave-nue and Dilangalen Street in Poblacion 6, Midsayap town.

One of them immediately pistol-whipped Francisco Moreno Chiong on the head and dragged him out of the establishment. Two other suspects fired their rifles as they were forcing Chiong to board their getaway vehicle, a silver Mitsubishi L300 van (TSA-524.)

The gunfire attracted the attention of members of the Midsayap municipal police and the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion who were then patrolling the area. The troops rushed to the site and engaged the fleeing gunmen in a two-minute gunfight.

The kidnappers, who were believed to have been wounded in the firefight, fled towards  Sitio Macabimban where they abandoned their vehicle.

Chiong was unharmed in the incident and is now under police security.

The kidnappers were still being hunted as of yesterday.