Ampatuan's former PR man killed

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A former public relations consultant of the detained patriarch of the Ampatuan clan was killed while his wife and four companions were wounded in an ambush at the border of neighboring Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces yesterday.

The fatality, Datu Cliff Ampatuan, adviser on peace and security concerns of Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao, and his companions were on their way to Isulan, Sultan Kudarat on board his car when they were waylaid.

Ampatuan, 50, is a grandson of former Maguindanao governor Datu Andal Ampatua, Sr., a key suspect in the massacre of 57 people in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town on Nov. 23 last year.

The slain Ampatuan’s family was reluctant to talk to reporters on who could be the killers.