SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao del Sur (PNA) – A barangay chairman in Maguindanao del Sur was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen on the national highway here on Tuesday afternoon, March 14, police said.
Col. Ruel Sermese, Maguindanao del Sur police director, identified the victim as Hadji Basit Zangkala, barangay chairman of neighboring Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hofer town.
Sermese said Zangkala was sitting inside his car parked beside the highway while waiting for his wife who was buying rice in a roadside store when gunmen shot him with .45-caliber pistols at 5 p.m.
Responding policemen and civilians rushed the victim to the provincial hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Sermese ordered on Wednesday, March 15, the creation of a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) to look into the village official’s killing. He said police are still clueless on the identities of the suspects.