Superintendent Rimas Calixto, Cordillera police intelligence and investigation chief, said the gunmen succeeded in rescuing Willy Sagasag who was being returned to the Cagayan provincial jail following his arraignment before the Tabuk Regional Trial Court.
Calixto identified the fatalities as Ronald Concepcion, a provincial guard who was escorting Sagasag; Resty Talamayan, 19, a college student in Tuguegarao who resided in Flora, Apayao; and Astrid Baddongan.
Wounded was PO3 Vicente Ruben who tried to fight it out with the ambushers. He is assigned to the Kalinga provincial police.
Calixto said Sagasag, tagged as the region’s "number one public enemy," is facing a string of criminal charges in Tuguegarao, the capital town of Cagayan, aside from cases of murder and illegal possession of firearms in Kalinga.
He said the 10 ambushers were positioned on both sides of the road in Sitio Kabuluan, Barangay Nambaran in Tabuk and fired at the passenger jeepney bearing Sagasag as it passed by.
"Sagasag grabbed the service firearm of the provincial guard and fled with the armed men," Calixto said.
He said the Kalinga police, in coordination with the Cagayan Valley police, are hunting down Sagasag and his rescuers.