Suspect in 2022 ambush-slay of MagSur police officer nabbed

From the Philippine News Agency (May 30, 2024): Suspect in 2022 ambush-slay of MagSur police officer nabbed (By Danilo Adorador, III)

ARRESTED. Kamid Kambal, a resident of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur, is arrested while he is confined at the Aniceto Pesante Hospital in Midsayap, North Cotabato on Wednesday (May 29, 2024. Kambal is one of the suspects in the 2022 ambush-slay of Lt. Reynaldo Samson Jr, police chief of Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, and his team. (Photo from CIDG-BARMM)

COTABATO CITY – Police arrested inside a private hospital in North Cotabato a suspect in the ambush-slay of a police officer in Maguindanao del Sur in 2022 on Wednesday afternoon.

Lt. Col. Ariel Huesca, regional chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CIDG-BARMM), identified the suspect as Kamid Kambal of Barangay Lapok, Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur.

“Kambal was among those who ambushed on Aug. 30, 2022 the team of Lt. Reynaldo Samson Jr., police chief of Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur,” Huesca said in a radio interview Thursday.

Police received a tip that Kambal was confined at the Anecito T. Pesante Sr. Memorial Hospital in Midsayap, North Cotabato due to an illness, he said.

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, CIDG agents served Kambal with several warrants of arrest for murder and multiple murder charges inside the hospital.

Two years ago, Samson and his five subordinates were ambushed in Ampatuan town as they were heading back to their station after a failed attempt to serve warrants of arrest against Kambal, who was not in his residence at the time.

Samson and his aide, Corporal Salipudin Endab, were killed on the spot, while three others who fought the attackers were injured.

Police said the gunmen belonged to Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Authorities said the ambush was perpetrated by Abdulnasser Sabtulah Guianid, Guiapar Abdulkarim, Sala Tunda, Johari Abdulbasser Guinaid, Phepe Saptulah, Abdulrah Sapal, Bobot Kamsa, and Kamir Kamsa (Kamid Kambal), all under the Kagui Karialan faction of the BIFF.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1225882