Maguindanao police chief, aide killed in ambush
STILL unidentified gunmen shot to death the chief of police of Ampatuan, Maguindanao, and one of his men in a daring ambush on Tuesday morning.
At least three other subordinates of Lieutenant Colonel Reynaldo Samson were also wounded in the attack, said a Philippine National Police (PNP) report.
PNP Chief Gen. Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. immediately ordered a massive pursuit operation against the lawless elements who attacked the Ampatuan policemen as they were serving a warrant of arrest for a wanted suspect in the area.
“The PNP is still doing follow-up operations regarding this unfortunate event. We will verify the identity of the casualties, and surely we will bring justice to the death of our comrades,” said PNP Public Information Office chief, Brig. Gen. Roderick Augustus B. Alba.
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Police Regional Office Director Brig. Gen. John G. Guyguyon confirmed the killing of Lt. Col. Samson and his security escort/driver Corporal Salipudin Endab.
The official said that the police officers were on their way to arrest a target in Barangay Kapinpilan when they came under heavy fire from the suspects shortly before 10:00 a.m.
Ampatuan is the place of the infamous Maguindanao Massacre on November 23, 2009, which left 58 persons, many of them media workers, dead.
The ambush came in the wake of a province-wide gun ban enforced by the police and the Armed Forces last August 16 to help secure the September 17 plebiscite that would determine if the province would be split into two.
