Mayor Akmad Ampatuan of Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines, survived an assass!nation attempt after his armored vehicle fended off a grenade attack by armed suspects on Sunday morning.
CCTV footage showed suspects disembarking a white minivan and using a grenade launcher on Ampatauan’s black SUV in Barangay Poblacion at 6:20 a.m. Sunday.
🇵🇭 The mayor of a small town in the Philippines survived an RPG attack on his vehicle
Heavily armed attackers ambushed the convoy of Shariff Aguak Mayor Akmad Mitra Ampatuan. A rocket struck his armored Toyota Land Cruiser, but the driver managed to steer the damaged,… pic.twitter.com/eyVh7oLh70
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 26, 2026
Three alleged ambushers were later k!lled during a pursuit operation by a joint police-Army team.
“The mayor is safe,” Anwar Kuit Emblawa, the mayor’s executive assistant, told reporters here in a text message.
He said Ampatuan was in his bulletproof black sports utility vehicle when attacked around 6:30 a.m. in Barangay Poblacion.
His backup vehicle, a pickup, was also hit by bullets.
Emblawa said the two security escorts sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are being treated at Bangsamoro Regional and Medical Center in Datu Hoffer.
The suspects were on board a white minivan when they carried out the ambush.
According to Tuaño, this was the fourth attack against Ampatuan. The first was a roadside bombing in 2010, followed by an ambush in 2014, and another attack in 2019.