|
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Four cops killed in ambush in Maguindanao town
COTABATO -- Unidentified gunmen killed four police officers in an ambush in a town in Maguindanao province Tuesday, the police and military said.
The intelligence officers, led by Chief Inspector Joselito Cabang, were on their way to negotiate the surrender of some members of the notorious Pentagon kidnap gang--which is on the US list of terror groups--when they were fired at by about 15 armed men on a roadside in a village outside Datu Paglas town, a police source said.
The source, who requested anonymity, said the attackers seized the officers' M16 assault rifles and handguns before fleeing.
Army Colonel Jerry Jaladoni, commander of the 604th Brigade, said troops were immediately deployed in pursuit of the gunmen, suspected to be Pentagon gang members or separatist guerrillas from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a ceasefire agreement with the government.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied the rebels were involved in the attack but admitted guerrillas have a "sizeable force" in the area, about 940 kilometers southeast of Manila.
Renegade guerrillas last month overran a military outpost in Mamasapano town, also in Maguindanao, killing six soldiers.
The rebel leadership said that attack was not sanctioned and both sides later said it would not affect their talks to end the decades-long Muslim rebellion for a separate homeland in Mindanao. (AP)
(February 2, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
'No. 2 man' of robbery gang nabbed