By Edwin Fernandez

File photo of Ustadz Yasser Mama Abdullah, LPT. (Photo courtesy of Jess M. Ali)

PIKIT, North Cotabato – Police are pursuing two assailants who fatally shot an Islamic preacher who recently passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET).

In an interview Thursday, Major John Arvin Cambang, Pikit police chief, identified the victim as Yasser Mama Abdullah, a part-time teacher at Noorul Eilm Academy Foundation Inc.

Abdullah was also the treasurer of Barangay Macabual, Tugunan town, in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Special Geographic Area (SGA-BARMM).

Cambang said the shooting occurred at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday outside the academy’s annex in Barangay Inug-ug.

Abdullah sustained gunshot wounds to the head and was rushed to Cruzado Medical Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. He was buried shortly after, following Islamic rites.

Abdullah had recently passed the LET, receiving the results on Dec. 13.

Police are exploring multiple motives for the killing, though the identities of the attackers remain unknown.

Cambang said authorities are investigating several leads.

On Dec. 3, two senior high school students from the same school were also killed near Barangay Inug-ug. Police said the two incidents are not connected. (PNA)