ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2012) – Unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of policemen and town officials on Thursday in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, killing two and wounding four others, officials said.
Officials said the policemen were escorting local officials of Omar town when gunmen ambushed them at around 3 p.m. Among those wounded were a policeman and three civilians in the convoy.
“Two policemen were killed in the attack,” said Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra, commander of the provincial police force.
Freyra said police is still investigating the ambush, but initial reports suggested the attack was politically motivated. “We are investigating this attack and we have reports that this could be politically motivated,” he told the Mindanao Examiner without further elaborating.
The slain policemen were members of the 5th Special Action Company, of the elite Philippine National Police – Special Action Force, deployed in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao. (With a report from Ely Dumaboc)
20