A local police chief and his aide were killed and three other policemen were wounded during a roadside ambush in the southern Philippines on Tuesday.
An unidentified gunman attacked them in Ampatuan, the town in Maguindanao province, while the officers were on their way to arrest a suspect, local media reports said.
The gunmen reportedly opened fire on the marked vehicle of the arresting officers at about 10 a.m. in a village outside Ampatuan.
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A gunfight ensued that led to the deaths of Lt. Col. Reynaldo Samson, the local police chief, and his aide, Cpl. Salipudin Endab, reported Benar News.
“Someone leaked the information about our operation,” Brig. Gen. John Gano Guyguyon, the police director in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), was quoted as saying while confirming the killings.
“We condemn to the highest degree this incident and we condole with the families of the victims,” he added.
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A photo circulating on social media showed a police car riddled with bullets along the road in Kapinpilan village, with one of the two slain officers on the ground.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
