ILIGAN City – A soldier was killed while seven others were wounded in an ambush along the highway in Pantar town, Lanao del Norte, at around 7:40 am yesterday. Col. Gilbert Gapay, commanding officer of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Ditucalan here, said a squad of the 42nd Company of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion on board a 6x6 truck was on its way to Pantar for “admin rotation patrol” when ambushed by an undetermined number of armed men in Barangay Calanganan. “The troops were able to return fire. Two of the armed men were also wounded,” he said. The wounded troops were rushed to hospitals in this city for treatment. The body of the dead soldier was also brought to Iligan. Gapay said troops were still on pursuit against the armed group who withdrew towards the interior part of Pantar. The highway was closed for traffic for at least an hour while the firefight lasted for 15 minutes, he said. The military and the National Police had earlier established a buffer zone in Pantar to prevent bloodshed caused by a rido (clan feud) and political dispute, Gapay added. Gapay said they were looking at three possible motives behind the ambush: that this was perpetrated by kidnappers; it was due to rido; or the arrest in Marawi City on Friday of eight alleged members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who misrepresented themselves as the National Bureau of Investigation agents. Fr. Teresito Soganub, vicar general of the Roman Catholic prelature of Marawi said the ambush caused a massive traffic jam along the highway between Iligan and Marawi cities. Soganub said he was at the terminal in Marawi City shortly before 8 am to board a public van for Iligan City but drivers declined to leave because of the ambush. When the vans finally moved, they got stuck in a traffic jam for about two hours. He said there was a long queue of vehicles––“about two kilometers long”––along the highway, portions of which were one-lane only due to repairs. Soganub said the 6x6 truck that was ambushed was on the left lane from Iligan City, on a portion that had drilled holes, apparently in preparation for bulldozing. He said the windshield bore several bullet holes, indicating the perpetrators may have ambushed them frontally. “Bold and daring,” Soganub said. He said he saw many Army vehicles, armored personnel carriers and the vehicles of the International Monitoring Team en route to Iligan City, a 40-minute ride from Marawi on ordinary days. Soganub said they arrived in Iligan at around 10 am. (richel umel with a report from carolyn arguillas of mindanews)