5 dead in Maguindanao town ambush

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Police yesterday dispatched a team to Datu Odin Sinsuat town following an ambush that killed a barangay chairman and four others on Tuesday.

Michael Sinsuat Dalidig, chairman of Barangay Dimapatoy, barangay councilor Jonathan Benito, his wife and their two children died from multiple gunshot wounds.  

Senior Inspector Datutulon Pinguiaman, chief of Datu Odin Sinsuat municipal police, said the victims were on a multicab on their way home after visiting a relative in Barangay Dimapatoy when the assailants fired at them.

“Our investigators are still trying to determine the identities of the suspects and the motive for the ambush,” Pinguiaman said.

The relatives of the victims said politics or land dispute  could have triggered the ambush.