Village chair slain in Maguindanao Sur gun attack
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 09:15 AM Wed Mar 15, 2023
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
CRIME SCENE. Police cordoned off the site where a village chair in Maguindanao del Sur was shot dead by motorcycle riding gunmen on Tuesday afternoon. He was declared dead on arrival. (PNP photos)
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao Sur – A village chairperson of nearby town in Maguindanao del Sur was shot dead by two men riding tandem on motorbike on Tuesday (March 14) afternoon along the national highway here, police said.
Colonel Ruel Sermese, Maguindanao police director, identified the victim as Hadji Basit Zangkala, village chairman of Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hofer town, in Maguindanao del Sur.
Quoting a report from Shariff Aguak municipal police office, Sermese said Zangkala was sitting inside his car parked beside the highway while waiting for his wife who was buying rice at a roadside store.
Two men on motorbike approached the victim’s car and opened fire at past 5 p.m. Tuesday using caliber .45 pistol.
Major Haron Macabanding, Shariff Aguak town police chief, said responding police and civilians rushed the victim to the provincial hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police found seven empty shells for caliber .45 pistol.
Colonel Sermese on Wednesday ordered the creation of a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) to speed up investigation.
He said police are still clueless as to the identities and mastermind behind the killing of Chairman Zangkala.
On January 30, gunmen also killed chairman Abobacar Abdul of Barangay Polloc in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte and his wife Baisa, in a late afternoon ambush in Barangay Timbangan, also in Parang.