Manila, Sept. 24 -- Police and military authorities in Maguindanao del Norte are hunting two men who shot dead two off-duty soldiers in Sultan Kudarat town Wednesday night.

Capt. Steffi Salanguit of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), identified the fatalities as Pfc. Jobert C. Labuson and Pfc. Johnmark C. Dumaguing, both members of the Army's 7th Infantry Battalion.

The attack occurred while a gun ban remains in effect in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in connection with the Sept. 14 Bangsamoro parliamentary elections. The election period runs from July 14 to Sept. 29.

"The soldiers were pronounced dead on arrival at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City," Sal...