COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 22 Feb)—The Lanao del Sur police has given out names of suspects behind the ambush of the convoy of Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal “Bombit” Adiong Jr., as well as that of one of the attackers killed after the conduct of hot operation by police and military troops.
But Maj. Alvison Mustapha, spokesperson of Lanao del Sur police, only mentioned a certain Kumander Lumala and Oscar Gandawali as suspects behind the ambush in the municipality of Maguing Friday last week that killed four people and injured the governor.
Mustapha refused to provide more details.
Oscar Capal Gandawali was among 10 suspects in the ambush of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents in the Lanao del Sur town of Kapai on October 5, 2018 wherein five were killed and two others were wounded.
Police, meanwhile, identified the cadaver of certain “Alyas Otin,” an alleged follower of the suspects, who was killed during a hot pursuit operation conducted by joint security forces in the evening of the ambush also in Maguing.
Over the weekend, Bangsamoro Minister for Interior and Local Government Naguib Sinarimbo also announced that 10 suspects have already been identified but did not divulge the names pending results of the investigation being conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“We know who these suspects are. It would be better for them to surrender peacefully,” Sinarimbo said as he asked the mayors belonging to the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Lanao del Sur chapter to negotiate for the surrender of the suspects to the authorities.
Unidentified gunmen ambushed the convoy of Adiong in barangay Delimbayan, Maguing town while the governor was on his way to Wao town in Lanao del Sur.
Adiong, along with two others, was wounded but four of his security escorts died in the ambush.
The governor was brought to Cagayan de Oro where doctors at the Polymedic General Hospital removed a slug from his right hip last Friday.
The 57-year-old governor was declared out of danger after the successful operation. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)