MANILA – The infamous Maguindanao massacre took another bizarre turn when two motorcycle gunmen riding in tandem shot and critically wounded a government prosecutor handling the case and a companion in a daring broad daylight attack along a busy thoroughfare in Cotabato City on Tuesday.

Cotabato City is in southern Philippines some 850 kilometers south of Manila.

Two gunmen aboard a motorbike shot and critically wounded a Maguindanao provincial prosecutor and a companion during a daring attack shortly before 4:00 p.m. Tuesday along a busy thoroughfare here.

Police Inspector Jaime Lapeña, Cotabato City sub-station 2 commander, said Maguindanao Provincial Prosecutor Akilali Balt was fired upon by the gunmen as the victim’s pick up truck was caught in a traffic jam along the corner of Sinsuat Avenue and Pansacala Street.

Also hit in the volley of gunfire was a companion of the prosecutor who was not identified by the police in the initial report.

The security aides of the prosecutor who were caught flabbergasted in the staccato of gunfire, managed to fire back on the attackers who quickly got lost in the maze of traffic.

Pursuing lawmen later recovered the gunmen’s motorcycle abandoned on a secluded section of Pansacala Street.

Balt who sustained a gunshot wound in the head and his companion remained in critical condition at the Notre Dame Hospital.

In that infamous massacre, 57 people, including 32 Philippine journalists were killed in a frenzy of killings by over 100 gunmen in the province of Maguindanao in southern Philippines on August 23, 2009.

The masterminds of the massacre are members of the influential Ampatuan clan in Central Mindanao.

A total of 195 people have been charged with multiple murders for the bloody massacre, and of that number, police said 88 suspects have been arrested and 107 more are still at large.

[Pictured above is Andal Ampuatan Jr., suspected mastermind of the Maguindanao massacre.]