By Edwin Fernandez
COTABATO CITY – Police and military forces are now tracking down gunmen who ambushed and killed five police officers and injured three others, including a police captain, on Saturday night in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur.
Police also condemned the attack against police officers who were returning to their barracks after peacekeeping operations in Shariff Aguak town.
The victims were members of the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company of Maguindanao del Sur Police Provincial Office.
“This deliberate and cowardly act against law enforcement officers will not be tolerated,” Brig. Gen. Jaysen de Guzman, BARMM police regional director, said in a statement Sunday.
De Guzman said the Maguindanao del Sur police have launched intensified manhunt operations and are pursuing all leads to identify and arrest the perpetrators.
“We assure the public that all necessary measures are being undertaken to bring those responsible to justice and hold them fully accountable,” he said.
Capt. Guiseppe Tamayo, Maguindanao del Sur police provincial spokesperson, said the police officers were en route to Camp Akilan, the provincial police headquarters, when they were ambushed by a group of gunmen in Barangay Poblacion Mother, Shariff Aguak, around 9:10 p.m.
The five police officers were pronounced dead on arrival at the Bangsamoro Regional Medical Center in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur. Three others remain in critical condition.
Tamayo withheld their identities pending official information to their respective families.
The Army’s 601st Infantry Battalion is joining the police manhunt in Shariff Aguak and nearby towns. (PNA)
