About 50 heavily-armed members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) stormed a police station in Marawi City in Mindanao, abducted the police chief, killed his brother-in-law and freed two of their detained colleagues.Colonel Glen Macasero, a regional military spokesman, identified the police chief as Superintendent Christopher Panapan who was apparently abducted to deter security forces from pursuing the suspects as they fled with their two rescued comrades. However, the abductors released Panapan a few hours later due to the intercession of the ceasefire committee established by the government and the MILF.
Macasero said about 50 armed MILF members stormed the Marawi City police station about 1 a.m. on Friday, disarmed the policmen and gunned down Panapan's brother-in-law. He said their main purpose was to rescue two of their MILF colleagues arrested last week. As they fled the suspects took their hostage and used him as human shield to discourage security from pursuing them.
The attack occurred as government and the MILF negotiating teams returned to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to resume talks.