Maguindanao massacre witness survives ambush – police

(Updated 4:10 p.m.) A prosecution witness in the Maguindanao massacre case survived an ambush by armed men Wednesday afternoon, provincial police said.
 
Maguindanao police director Rodelio Jocson said Akmad Ampatuan, 32, and two of his companions were injured in the encounter.

A separate report from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao regional police said the incident occurred at around 3 p.m., at Sitio Pansol, Barangay Macasampen in Guindulungan town.

The ARMM regional police identified Ampatuan's companions as:

* Faisal Guiamblang, 30
* Samsudin Balabaran, 29, and
* Mahadi Simpal, 30.
 
Ampatuan was in a convoy escorted by Army troops who exchanged gunfire with the armed assailants. They were onboard two black Toyota Hilux cars from Cotabato City en route to Shariff Aguak when they were ambushed at the boundary of Guindulungan and Talayan towns.
 
Akmad Ampatuan sustained wounds on his hand and arms, and was rushed to a hospital in Shariff Aguak for treatment.

The ARMM regional police said that a caliber 5.56 rifle was used during the ambush, based on empty shells recovered from the scene. The motive of the incident has yet to be determined, it added.
 
Sought for comment, Maguindanao governor Esmael Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and two sisters in the November 2009 massacre, said, “Isa sa mga witnesses namin si Akmad Ampatuan. Sinabi ko na kasi na 'wag masyado pa-gala-gala.”
 
Ampatuan is a former mayor of the town of Datu Salibo.

Fifty-eight people, including over 30 journalists, were killed in the massacre blamed on the powerful Ampatuan family in Maguindanao. — Ferdinandh Cabrera and Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/ELR/KBK, GMA News