Mayor Jose Segundo of Tubo town, police said, was en route to Barangay Dilong when he was waylaid at about 7 a.m.
Segundo sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died while being rushed to the Cervantes Hospital in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur.
Senior Superintendent Benjamin Magalong, Abra police director, said policemen and members of the Army’s 503rd Infantry Brigade were pursuing the ambushers.
Chief Superintendent Crescencio Maralit, spokesman of the Philippine National Police, said probers were looking into the possible involvement of the New People’s Army in Segundo’s ambush-slaying.
"We are not sure yet if the NPAs were the ones who ambushed Mayor Segundo," he said. — Jaime Laude, Ave Bello, Aurora Alambra