By Edwin Fernandez | Philippine News Agency
COTABATO CITY – Armed men killed in an ambush a town police chief in Maguindanao and a patrol car driver Tuesday morning, Aug. 30, as they were about to serve an arrest warrant on a wanted man.
Brig. Gen. John Gano Guyguyon, police director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), identified the slain police officer as Lt. Reynaldo Samson, police chief of Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
The identity of the police car driver remains unknown as of posting.
The police officer and several of his men went to Barangay Kapinpilan, Ampatuan to serve a warrant of arrest against a wanted person at about 10 a.m. when they were waylaid along a dirt road.
It was not immediately clear what happened to the rest of the police team.
Witnesses said the gunmen also took the slain victims’ rifles and ammunition.
Guyguyon said a manhunt was immediately launched against the perpetrators after the incident.
Ampatuan town, the site of the infamous 2009 Maguindanao massacre located 70 km. south of this city, is known as one of the areas of operation of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it has intensified efforts in running after lawless elements who are behind the attack.
In a statement, PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the Provincial Mobile Force Companies of Maguindanao Police Provincial Office are leading pursuit operations in the areas surrounding the ambush site.
He added that the BARMM’s Police Regional Mobile Forces and the Police Regional Office 12 were also alerted to possibly intercept a heavily armed group led by a certain Abdulnasser Saptula Guianid, who is believed to be responsible for the incident.
“We will verify the identity of the casualties and surely we will bring justice for the death of our own personnel,” Azurin said. (with report from Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
