Maguindanao town councilor shot dead
Local News • 07:08 AM Thu Feb 22, 2018
1,070
By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
The highway from crossing Salbu, Datu Saudi Ampatuan to Datu Piang, also in Maguindanao. (contributed photo)
SAUDI
AMPATUAN, Maguindanao – Police and military authorities here have
launched manhunt against two gunmen who shot dead a town councilor Wednesday
morning.
Capt. Arvin
John Encinas, spokesperson of 6th Infantry Division, said elements
of the 57th Infantry Battalion have been providing manpower and
resources to the Datu Saudi Ampatuan Municipal Police Office in hunting down
the killers of Town Councilor Sahabudin Namli, 42 of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and
resident of Barangay Madia.
Namli was
ambushed by armed men at about 10:45 a.m. along the national highway. He sustained
multiple gunshot wounds in the head and body and was rushed to the Maguindanao
provincial Hospital.
Police Officer
1 Samsudin Nano, Datu Saudi police investigator on case, said Namli expired at
past 11 a.m. while undergoing treatment at the hospital.Nano said the
victim was walking from his house toward the highway in Barangay Madia when two
masked men, one armed with cal. 45 pistol and the other with M-16 Armalite rifle,
opened fire.
The suspects
waited for the town official to reached the highway and shot him at close
range, Nano said of Namli whose house is about 10 meters from the Datu
Saudi-Datu Piang highway.
The suspects
fled on foot. Nano said manhunt had been launched.
Initial
investigation also showed that the gunmen belonged to an armed group under a
certain Commander Haon. It was not clear
what group Haon belonged.
Namli is a
relative of Ustadz Wahid Tundok, commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) 118th base command.
Nano said the
relatives of the slain town official were angry and fired their guns on
air. They were very mad, apparently
they knew the perpetrators, he added.
Capt. Encinas said
government forces stationed along the highway have been alerted. (Edwin O.
Fernandez)