Lanao police officer’s killers used B-40 anti-tank rockets, assault rifles

COTABATO CITY — Waiting in ambush on the roadside, the killers of Superintendent Ferdinand Tiqui and his two men fired B-40 anti-tank rockets before spraying the police convoy with automatic gunfire along the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway in Lanao del Sur early Tuesday night.

Marine Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino, Anti-Crime Task Force Ranao commander, said the gunmen appeared to have targeted Tiqui, director of the Traffic Management Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

"We are convinced, based on initial intelligence reports reaching us, that the killing of Superintendent Tiqui could be related to his crusade against car theft in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City," Dolorfino told The STAR.

Dolorfino, also 2nd Marine Brigade commander based in Iligan City, said a big car theft syndicate could have liquidated Tiqui.

"If the ambushers were just there to harm people, they could have opened fire at us if they were already there hours before they perpetrated the ambush of Superintendent Tiqui and his men," Dolorfino said.

Tiqui and his security escorts took their usual route on Tuesday morning on their way to Cotabato City to take part in a dialogue with Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Hamid Albar, local officials, and representatives of the military, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Dolorfino said.

Lanao del Sur police have no clues yet on the identities of the killers of Tiqui, Senior Police Officer 2 Ruben Malidas and Police 0fficer 1 Cerilo Cariaga.

Police and military investigators said Tiqui and his men were on their way to Cotabato City after completing an anti-carnapping operation in Marawi City when they were waylaid by heavily armed men on a secluded portion of Ramos Highway in Tugaya town.

Three other policemen and a civilian identified as Aying Gallego survived the attack and were taken to a nearby hospital.

Peace advocates in Central Mindanao have urged the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team enforcing the ceasefire between the government and the MILF to investigate the killing of Tiqui and his men.

Talks are circulating in Cotabato City that secessionist rebels engaged in car theft staged the ambush, local leaders said.

The gunmen escaped after sensing that militiamen were on their way to the scene.