Mayor, aide killed in Sulu ambush

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A town mayor of Sulu and his escort were gunned down by an unknown suspect in a village near the police training camp center at dawn yesterday.

Police said two of the public official’s escorts survived the attack.

The victim, identified as Alkhalid Kaluang, 29, mayor of Kalinggalang Kaluang town, was shot to death on Limbaga Drive in Barangay Pasonanca about 3:10 a.m. The name of the slain escort was not immediately known.

Kaluang, a scion of the prominent Kaluang clan in Sulu, was rushed to the nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival, according to city police director Senior Superintendent Henry Losañez.

Losañez said witnesses disclosed that Kaluang, along with his four escorts, was seen talking with unidentified men at Limbaga Drive.

"The victims reportedly had discussion and later bursts of gunfire were heard," Losañez said.

Losañez immediately ordered an investigation into the killing of Kaluang, who held temporary residence in Doña Vicenta, Sta. Maria, this city.

"We are looking into several angles but we cannot say yet any of these motives, not even the possibility of politics," Losañez said.

The police immediately deployed security at the victims’ residence to avert the possibility of a clan war erupting. — Roel Pareño