Maguindanao village chair killed in ambush

MAGUINDANAO – Gunmen on Friday killed a barangay chairman and a soldier and wounded an Army captain in an ambush in Salibo town in Maguindanao.Sajid Ambiton, chairman of Barangay Masigay in Datu Piang town in the second district of Maguindanao died on the spot when the suspects, positioned at one side of the highway in Sambulawan area in Salibo, shot his Toyota Revo vehicle with assault rifles.Also killed in the attack was Ambiton’s companion, a soldier initially identified only as Sgt. Tamma of an Army mechanized unit based in the second district of Maguindanao.Another military passenger, a certain Captain Melendrez, who belong to the same Army unit, sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of his body.Police probers are unsure if the ambushers were members of the brigand Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or political enemies of Ambiton.Investigators are yet to determine why Tamma, Melendrez and Ambiton were together in one vehicle the suspects shot with automatic weapons.Witnesses told probers the ambushers first blasted a fragmentation grenade underneath the vehicle before they opened fire, killing Ambiton and Tamma on the spot.The suspects scampered away after sensing that responding barangay officials and soldiers from a nearby roadside Army detachment were closing in.