Okaz/Saudi Gazette

MANILA — A Saudi citizen was killed and his Filipina wife wounded seriously in an ambush in the city of Shariff Aguak in the Philippines on Tuesday.

Police authorities are tracking down two gunmen, riding tandem on a motorbike, who ambushed and killed the Saudi national Sulaiman Jamal and injured his wife Bainot. The couple were together in a white Ford pick-up truck when they were attacked by the gunmen at a busy stretch of a highway in Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao del Sur province.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Shariff Aguak Mayor Datu Akmad Mitra Ampatuan condemned the ambush and directed the police to identify, arrest, and prosecute the perpetrators. Maj. Haron Macabanding, town police chief, identified the slain foreigner as Saudi Solaiman Jamal, 50, and his injured wife as Bainot Jamal, 45, both residents of Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, the Philippine News Agency reported.

Macabanding said Jamal, who was driving his pickup truck was killed on the spot while his wife sustained gunshot wounds in the body during the 6 p.m. attack. The wife’s unidentified brother who was seated in the back seat was unharmed and rushed his injured sister to the Maguindanao provincial hospital aboard a tricycle.

The couple had just visited a farm lot they recently purchased in neighboring Barangay Labu-Labu, Datu Hofer town, and were heading for home via this town when ambushed by the gunmen. It was revealed in initial investigation that the gunmen were seen tailing the pick-up truck and executed the ambush.

Macabanding said the motive of the attack and the identities of the perpetrators remained unknown. He offered a reward to anyone who can help the police with information that leads to identifying the assailants.