PARANG, Maguindanao — Police in Marawi City have arrested one of the suspects in the killing and burning of a couple and a daughter in Lanao del Sur.
Supt. Ibra Moxsir, Marawi City police chief, in his report Monday to the PNP Regional Office – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM) based here, said that follow up operations are underway after the suspect, whom he did not identify, named his accomplices to the crime.
Moxsir said the arrested suspect was one of three armed men who barged into the house and shot to death Khalid Ditingki, his wife Santalla and their daughter Norhidaya at past 10 p.m. Friday.
Khalid is a village councilman of lakeside village of Matampay in Marantao. The village borders Marantao town and Marawi City.
While land dispute could be the possible motive, Moxsir said there were indications the suspects were supporters of local Maute terror group.
The charred remains of the victims were immediately buried by relatives in keeping with the Islamic tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours.
Citing police reports from Lanao del Sur, Senior Inspector Jemar Delos Santos, spokesperson for PRO-ARMM, said that the victims were asleep when the suspects barged inside the house, opened fire on the couple and daughter before setting afire the family’s remains.
Neighbors rescued the seven other children of Khalid and turned them over to the city social welfare and development office in Marawi. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
