9 dead in Maguindanao ambush

GUINDULUNGAN, Maguindanao — Nine people got killed in an ambush here on Saturday morning in what the police and military said was rooted to a longtime ”rido” between two Moro clans.

Rido is a generic term for clan war in many Southern Philippine languages.

The Maguindanao provincial police and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division confirmed the death of nine persons in the incident, among them Pagz Mamasainged, also known as “Commander Black Magic,” who died instantly from multiple bullet wounds.

They were on board a maroon Mitsubishi Montero and a black Ford Ranger pick-up truck that their attackers shot with assault rifles while maneuvering through a secluded stretch of a road connecting Barangay Kalumamis to the Cotabato-Isulan Highway.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of 6th ID, said Mamasainged and his followers are adversaries of another group led by Jordan Mamalintang and his son, Morsid.

The two groups had figured in firefights early on.

Uy said their intelligence agents shall help the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region probe on the incident, feared to escalate the animosity between the two feuding groups.

Residents of Kalumamis had told investigators the gunmen behind the ambush had positioned themselves along the route where they attacked their targets hours prior to the incident.

The 6th ID and PRO-BAR will deploy peacekeepers in the area to prevent the two enemy groups from getting close to each other while efforts to settle their rido are underway.