Police Linkage "Pink" mayor Samsudin Dimaukom & 9 others killed in PNP roadside ambush

At first account it sounds like a typical drug bust where the bad guys resist and are all killed while the police miraculously are unscathed:

Maguindanao mayor tagged as 'narco-politician' slain

28 October 2016

A town mayor earlier tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte as a "narco-politician" was killed in an alleged shootout in North Cotabato early Friday. Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nine others, including his body guards, were shot dead in Old Bulatukan in Makilala, North Cotabato at 4:30 a.m. They were brought to the Makilala Specialist Hospital and Midway Hospital for treatment but were declared dead on arrival.

Initial reports said the mayor's convoy was flagged down at a checkpoint manned by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group and PNP Regional Public Safety Battalion 12 in Barangay Bulatukan based on information that the group would transport illegal drugs to Maguindanao and Cotabato area. The mayor's convoy allegedly did not stop and instead fired at the operatives.

South Central Mindanao Police spokesman Superintendent Romeo Galgo said it was the convoy of Mayor Dimaukom that initiated the shootout. "We did not initiate it. It was the law enforcers who were fired upon by the convoy, that's why we returned fire," he said in an interview on ANC's The Bureau.​

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/28/16/maguindanao-mayor-tagged-as-narco-politician-slain


Note that in the earliest news report(s), e.g. above, they claimed that the entourage did not stop but opened fire.

Later reports, e.g. below, claimed that the entourage stopped and opened fire.


Maguindanao mayor, 9 others killed in Cotabato anti-illegal drug ops

28 October 2016

Ten people, including a Maguindanao town mayor included on the drug list of President Rodrigo Duterte, were killed following an anti-illegal drug operation in Makilala, Cotabato early Friday morning. GMA News TV's News TV Live identified the slain local chief executive as Datu Saudi Ampatuan Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom, who was killed along with nine others in a reported shootout in Barangay Old Bulatukan around 4:30 a.m.

...

The same police report said the suspects, on board a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Toyota Super Grandia, stopped a few meters away from the checkpoint and fired at the law enforcers which triggered the firefight.​

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/stor...hers-killed-in-cotabato-anti-illegal-drug-ops

The GMA News contains this gem of information:

The suspects were initially wounded in the encounter, according to the report. They were then taken to the Makilala Specialist Hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival.​

"Initially wounded", i.e. still alive, yet somehow all ten managed to be dead on arrival at the hospital?

And this:

Recovered from the scene were: 13 large sachet of suspected shabu, one 12 gauge shotgun, one 357 revolver, three cal. 45 pistol, and one M16 rifle.​

The entourage had only 6 weapons, yet 10 people were killed. That means 4 unarmed individuals were killed.


The change in story seems likely due to the appearance of some photographs that show the vehicles neatly parked alongside the road, not what you'd expect if the drivers & occupants had all been shot with the vehicles still in motion:

Photo from Rappler​

Photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer​

And also via the Inquirer:

Shootout or rubout

31 October 2016

Most of the dead were shot in the head in a possible rubout, relatives said, disputing the police account of a shootout.​

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/836078/shootout-or-rubout

Perhaps an extra ration of cranial lead had somelthing to do with the transition from "initially wounded" to "dead on arrival"?

 

Apparently there was some payback, as the Vice Mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Anwar Sindatok, who reportedly helped PNP draw a bead on "Pink Mayor" Samsudin Dimaukom has himself been murdered:

Maguindanao vice mayor shot dead inside home

27 November 2016

The vice mayor of Datu Saudi-Ampatuan, Maguindanao was killed by unidentified gunmen inside his house on Sunday morning. Initial police reports said an unknown number of suspects entered the house of Vice Mayor Anwar Sindatuk in Barangay Madia at 8:20 a.m. A village official later told ABS-CBN News that a multi-cab parked outside Sindatuk's house before two men disembarked from the vehicle, talked with the vice mayor and shot him dead ... A 58-year-old woman was hit by a stray bullet during the incident. Police said they are looking into "rido" or family feud as the motive in the killing.​

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/27/16/maguindanao-vice-mayor-shot-dead-inside-home


Maguindanao vice mayor gunned down inside home

27 November 2016

Gunmen shot dead on Sunday the newly installed vice mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, whose mayor, Samsudin Dimaukom, was killed by anti-narcotics agents last month. Anwar Sindatok was in his residence drinking coffee with visitors who, in the middle of a conversation, pulled out handguns from their waists and repeatedly shot him at close range, killing him on the spot. Sindatok has just assumed as vice mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan after its vice mayor, Anida Abas Dimaukom, took over the town’s mayoral post, left vacant by the death of her husband, Dimaukom, in an anti-narcotics operation in Makilala, North Cotabato on October 28.

...

Text messages started circulating before noontime Sunday purporting that some relatives of the fatalities in the October 28 incident in Makilala are suspecting that Sindatok helped the police locate Mayor Dimaukom’s convoy which policemen tried to stop for inspection in an operation that went haywire and resulted in a firefight.


He took over the vice mayoral post from Mayor Dimaukom's wife based on his having garnered most number of votes from among all aspirants for seats in the municipal council during the May 9 elections.​

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2016/11/27/1647948/maguindanao-vice-mayor-gunned-down-inside-home


Maguindanao vice mayor shot dead

28 November 2016

Initial police report showed that [Vice-Mayor Anwar] Sindatuk was inside his residence talking with visitors over coffee when someone pulled out a gun and shot him at close range. Sinadtuk died on the spot. He just assumed the post of vice mayor after Vice Mayor Dimaukom took the place of her husband.​

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/848486/maguindanao-vice-mayor-shot-dead

 

Moro rebels are being blamed for the murder of Vice-Mayor Anwar Sindatuk:

Killers of Datu Saudi Ampatuan vice mayor identified

30 November 2016

Police vowed a speedy prosecution against guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front implicated in the killing of Vice Mayor Anwar Sindatok of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town. Police Superintendent Nixon Muksan, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, on Wednesday said investigators are now preparing criminal charges against the culprits suspected to be behind the killing of the official on Sunday.


Von Al-Haq, spokesman of the MILF's self-styled Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces confirmed to reporters early these week that several guerrillas were indeed involved in the atrocity, but declined to reveal their names pending the filing of criminal charges against them. Al-Haq said the suspects belong to the MILF's 118th Base Command, touted as the largest rebel group in the second district of Maguindanao, led by Imam Wahid Tundok, a foreign-trained cleric.​

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2016/11/30/1648977/killers-datu-saudi-ampatuan-vice-mayor-identified