4 Rajah Buayan cops injured in roadside blast in Mamasapano
Rajah Buayan Mayor Zamzamin Ampatuan said the roadside bombing “alarms our people” as he noted that “the usual target has been Army vehicles.”
“The police has not been a target, which indicates that there is a new dimension to the peace and order situation in the area. While the site of bombing is in another town, we hope that this will not jeopardize the security of our people,” the mayor said.[]
Ampatuan identified the injured policemen as SPO2 Mohammad K Ampatuan, PO3 Ali Ibrahim Malok, Harim G Ampatuan and PO1 Norudin E Olympain.
Fragments from the improvised explosive device that went off in Mamasapano town , Maguindanao Tuesday afternoon, 09 May 2017, injuring four policemen from neighboring Rajah Buayan town. Photo courtesy of Mayor Ampatuan
Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, provincial police chief of Maguindanao said the policemen were on their way to a conference he called for against illegal drugs and annual fiscal examination when the bomb exploded.
The policemen were rushed to the provincial hospital in neighboring Shariff Aguak town. The vehicle was riddled with shrapnel.
No groups has accepted responsibility for the bombing but the mayor said” I sense this is a reprisal” against the police operations against illegal drugs in Rajah Buayan last week.[]
A mother and her two children were killed while her two younger children were injured when the suspected drug personalities reportedly fired at the policemen who were about to serve warrants of arrest in Barangay Panadtaban, Rajah Buayan early afternoon of May 2. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera / MindaNews)
