Gunmen yesterday killed an official of the Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines, authorities said yesterday. Police said the victim, lawyer Arnel Datukon, was on his way to office in downtown Cotabato City at 8 a.m. yesterday when two gunmen on board a motorcycle peppered his car with automatic rifle fire. "There is an investigation going on and our forces are tracking down the gunmen responsible in this senseless killing," Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, the regional police chief, told Arab News by phone.Datukon was the executive director of the Social Fund Project of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which is based in Cotabato City. Witnesses said the attackers were wearing camouflage uniforms, which are widely available in stores in Cotabato City, despite a strict campaign against the use by civilians of these uniforms. Investigators said they were also looking into any link between yesterdayÂ’s ambush and a bomb attack last June, which narrowly missed Maguindanao provincial Gov. Andal Ampatuan as his car was passing along the public market of Shariff Aguak town.
Authorities blamed the assassination attempt on two leaders of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who both denied the charges. An attempt by the police to arrest the suspected bombers led to fighting between MILF fighters and militiamen loyal to Gov. Ampatuan. The wife of one of the suspects, Zaid Pakiladatu, was killed later on in an ambush in Cotabato City by unknown assailants.