COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The chief of the Marawi City police in Lanao del Sur was killed in an ambush by unidentified assailants in a village in the city yesterday afternoon.
Supt. Al Abner Wahab Santos was driving his Mitsubishi Montero on his way to the city police station when the armed men waylaid him at past 2 p.m. at the crossing of Sitio Sarimanok in Barangay Luksa Datu.
Santos, who came from a meeting at the provincial police office, died at the scene from gunshots to the head.
Lanao del Sur police director Supt. Sigfried Ramos said investigators have yet to determine the motive for the killing.
“The suspects were able to escape. They are now being hunted down by our operatives,” Ramos said.
Witnesses told probers that the assailants were in a vehicle similar to that of Santos’.
Lanao del Sur is a component province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
More than 30 people have been killed in separate attacks in Marawi City in the past 12 months.