Police in Alicia and Candijay have expressed alarm over the spate of knife attacks and a mauling incident carried out by motorcycle-riding individuals along roads of the two adjacent towns.

Seven victims have been hit with a piece of wood, stabbed or slashed with a knife while driving motorcycles or walking roadside in the two municipalities in a span of just over a week, police said.

According to PO3 Emmanuel Habas of the Candijay police, four male victims including one minor suffered a single cut each after one of multiple suspects pressed a knife to their bodies in separate occasions on Friday and Saturday last week.

Similar incidents took place in nearby Alicia over a week ago and police have reason to suspect that these were carried out by the same group.

“Naay posibilidad nga pareho ra ang suspek ani ug sa Alicia kay basi sa mga sulti nga taga Alicia ang mga suspek, pero ato pa na klaruhon karon kay ang mga pulis sa Alicia padayon pa pod sa ilang imbestigasyon,” said Habas.

Two of the victims, Rex Duyog, 27 and Roque Duyog, 21, were riding motorcycles when six men on board three other motorcycles accosted them and slashed them with a knife.

Rex was cut with a knife in Barangay Lungsodaan at around 3 a.m. while the same thing happened to Roque just several minutes after in Barangay Buyuan.

On the same day, six men on board three motorcycles, using a knife, slashed the ear of a 14-year-old boy who was walking along a road in Barangay Poblacion, Habas said.

The fourth victim in Candijay was identified by authorities as Florencio Ociones, 55.

He was walking along Barangay Canawa when two suspects riding a single motorcycle slashed his head with a knife at around 9 p.m. on Saturday.

On Monday last week, SPO1 Danilo Junio of the Alicia Police Station was also alarmed over similar incidents.

Junio said that a 14-year-old boy was stabbed with a knife in the neck area while a 16-year-old boy was hit with a piece of wood in the face over a week ago.

One John Christian Vallespen, 20, was slashed with a knife.

According to Junio, all three crimes were perpetrated by two men riding a single motorcycle.

No suspect has been has been identified by authorities while police in both Alicia and Candijay continued their investigations on the cases. (Allen Doydora)