AMBUSH. Police investigators look for evidence at the site where Marawi Mayor Fahad Salic was ambushed in Cagayan de Oro in April 9. Salic and his driver who were on board this red Ford Ranger were wounded. (MINDANEWS PHOTO BY FROILAN GALLARDO)
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By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

POLICE pressed charges against eight men linked to last month’s ambush of Marawi Mayor Fahad Salic on a road leading to a hotel in Upper Carmen, this city.

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The complaint for frustrated murder was filed on Monday, city prosecutor Fidel Macauyag confirmed yesterday.

Macauyag said the police, in the complaint, identified four of the suspects as Edris Salindawan a.k.a. Abu Hanif, Aleem Jamal Salindawan a.k.a. Abu Nusair, Salandunin Edris, and Abdul Khair Musok Radia of Barangay Libod Madaya, Marawi City. Police included four John Does in the complaint.

Macauyag said the complaint, dated May 18 but filed on May 23, was filed at the local prosecution office by Chief Insp. Gil Agpaoa of the Carmen police station based on results of an investigation signed by PO3 Leonilo Laquio.

The suspects were charged by the police with two counts of frustrated murder each in connection witn the April 9 attempt on the life of Mayor Salic, 55, and his driver Cairoden Gunting, 41. The two were wounded. The suspects remain at large.

Salic, who hails from Lumbayanague, Lanao del  Sur, has a house at Xavier Estates in Upper Balulang.

Agpaoa said the complaint was based on the statements of two witnesses who identified four of the eight suspects in the ambush staged at around 1:55 am on a road leading to Pryce Plaza Hotel.

Agpaoa said Salic and his driver had just left Pryce Plaza and were riding a red Ford Ranger pick-up truck when they were attacked by heavily armed men.

After shooting Salic’s vehicle, the suspects fled using a black Toyota Fortuner SUV and white Toyota Hi-Ace van with no license plates.

The wounded Salic and Gunting were rushed to the Polymedic Plaza in Kauswagan. Both are now safe.

Agpaoa attached with the complaint the affidavits signed by Salic, Gunting and two witnesses, and results of the ballistic examination, trajectory examination, macro-etching, digital forensic examination, and medical certificates.

Police also submitted as evidence the victims’ cellphones.

Macauyag said he has created a three-person panel of prosecutors to start a preliminary investigation into the Salic-Gunting frustrated murder case.

Macauyag said the prosecution office would also wait for the results of a separate investigation by the “Task Force Salic.” The task force is composed of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Criminal Investigation Group (CIDG), and other law enforcement agencies.

“I am still waiting for another possible complaint by the task force that conducted an investigation into this case,” he said.

If the task force files a complaint, he said, he would consolidate the cases.

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