Maguindanao town councilor shot dead

DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN, Maguindanao–Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday ambushed and killed a town councilor here.

Councilor Sahabudin Namli, 42, died from multiple bullet wounds while being treated at a hospital following the incident that took place at the Barangay Madia portion of the Maguindanao highway around 10:45 a.m., according to Capt. Arvin John Encinas, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Police Officer 1 Samsudin Nano, investigator on case, said Namli was walking from his house towards the highway in Barangay Madia when two masked men, armed with a cal. 45 pistol and an M-16 Armalite rifle, shot him him.

“The suspects waited for the town official to reach the highway and shot him at close range,” Nano said.

Namli’s house, he added, was only about 10 meters from the Datu Saudi-Datu Piang highway.

The suspects, who turned out to be under a group led by a certain Commander Haon, fled on foot.

Nano said it was not clear what group Haon led, but Namli was a relative of Ustadz Wahid Tundok, the commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) 118th base command.