P300,000 offered for info on suspects in Maguindanao ambush

COTABATO CITY, Philippines —  The governor of Maguindanao del Sur has offered a reward of P300,000 in exchange for information that may lead to the arrest of the gunmen who ambushed and killed five policemen in Shariff Aguak town on Saturday.

Gov. Ali Midtimbang announced the reward during a meeting on Tuesday of members of the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council.

“We are doing our best to identify and prosecute the people behind the attack,” Midtimbang said.

Local officials led by Shariff Aguak Mayor Akmad Ampatuan Jr. are coordinating with investigators to help speed up the probe and identify the perpetrators, according to Brig. Gen. Jaysen de Guzman, Bangsamoro police director.

The fatalities – Patrolmen Amil Bangsa, Al-Fatah Marohom, Kenneth Perocho, Sayed Ridwan and Arsenal Sivih of the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company –  and their companions were on their way back to Camp Akilan when the gunmen waylaid them.

The officers came from a peacekeeping mission in the town proper.

The attack wounded three other officers – Lt. Alfred Gregory, M/Sgt. Abubakar Lauban and S/Sgt. Adam Kamarudin Kansi.

The gunmen managed to escape before responding policemen arrived at the scene.

Authorities are verifying information that remnants of the terrorist group Dawlah Islamiya were behind the ambush.