KORONADAL CITY — The town of Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao del Sur province was placed under heightened security watch following the ambush that killed two policemen and wounded four others on Wednesday night.
Police Maj. Haron Macabanding, Shariff Aguak police chief, said the town was on high alert in the wake of the attack that killed Patrolmen Saipoden Shiek Macacuna and Bryan Polayagan, both with the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company under the provincial police office in Datu Hoffer town.
Wounded during the attack were Patrolmen Arjie Val Loie Pabinguit and Abdulgafor Alib, Police Staff Sergeant Benjie delos Reyes and Police Chief MSgt. Rey Vincent Gertos.
Macabanding, in a local radio interview, said they launched a deeper investigation to determine the motive alongside a manhunt for the suspects.
READ: PNP vows justice for 2 cops killed in Maguindanao del Sur ambush
“There have been threats against the police and military in the locality from some groups,” he said in Filipino, without identifying them.
Macabanding said the policemen were on their way back to Camp Batu Akilan, the provincial police headquarters, when they were waylaid in a dark stretch of the road in Barangay Poblacion at 8 p.m.
He appealed to residents who might have information on the attack to help authorities catch the suspects.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. on Thursday said the PNP would do everything within its power and authority to serve the ends of justice.
“The PNP strongly condemns these cowardly attacks on law enforcement personnel and is committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice,” Acorda said in a statement on Thursday, as he ordered the police in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to hunt down and arrest the still unidentified gunmen.
“This case will not go unsolved—punishment is certain for those responsible for this heinous crime,” he said.
He said the “inhumane act of the unidentified suspects while the police personnel were conducting routine mobile patrol to ensure the safety and security of the public is a loud call to the community to work together to eradicate such kind of criminal act.”
Retaliation?
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the police suspected the gunmen could be members of the Islamic State (IS)-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a group that maintains holdouts in Shariff Aguak and nearby towns.
Shariff Aguak is one of the areas where the Daulah Islamiyah (DI)-Hassan Group operates. Police and military officials say BIFF is allied with the DI and the Maute Group, which were among those responsible for the siege of Marawi City in 2017.
Asked if the ambush was in retaliation to the killing of a leader of the IS-affiliated DI, Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, BARMM regional police director, said: “We cannot say at this point or speculate who were behind the ambush.”
Col. Billy dela Rosa, deputy commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said they had yet to see a connection between the ambush in Shariff Aguak and the raids in Marawi that led to the killing of top Southeast Asia IS leader Abu Zacharia and his close aide, Abu Morsid, early on Wednesday.
Dela Rosa said they released on Thursday several individuals who were invited for questioning in relation to the presence of Abu Zacharia and Abu Morsid in their community.