MILF leader, barangay official killed in ambush

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines - Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday killed in an ambush in President Quirino town a senior commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and an incumbent barangay official, police said Thursday.

The fatalities, Manubakan Abdul of the MILF’s 108th Base Command, and a relative named Abdulkarim Maslamama, were riding a motorcycle together on their way to the town proper of President Quirino from a secluded barangay when their attackers flagged them down and shot them with assault rifles.

Maslalama was barangay councilor in Barangay Midkunding in nearby S.K. Pendatun town in Maguindanao, about 15 kilometers northwest of President Quirino.

Investigators said Abdul and Maslamama both died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said military intelligence agents are now helping the police identity the killers of Abdul and Maslalama.

He said combatants of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion are now helping locate the whereabouts of the culprits.

Relatives of the victims told investigators they have no clue yet on who could have perpetrated the atrocity.

Abdul was known in the MILF as “Commander Garrison,” who was in control of rebel forces in the adjoining President Quirino and S.K. Pendatun municipalities.