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| Southeast Asia |
| Mindanao massacre suspect killed in shootout |
| 2013-03-20 |
| A suspect and member of a powerful and influential clan responsible for the massacre of 58 people in Mindanao in late 2009 was gunned down in an encounter with government security forces in Maguindanao province, a military spokesman said on Tuesday. Army Colonel Edgar Gonzales said five policemen and a soldier were also injured in the shootout that killed Dayna Ampatuan in the town of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao. Gonzales said the encounter occurred Monday when a team of policemen and soldiers went to his hideout in a remote village in Shariff Aguak to serve him an arrest warrant for his alleged involvement in the carnage on Nov.23, 2009. Instead of surrendering, Ampatuan and his followers resisted which resulted in a gun battle. Gonzales said, “Initial intelligence reports indicated that Ampatuan resisted and engaged the policemen and soldiers in a firefight. His companions joined the foray." Gonzales quoted witnesses as saying they saw Ampatuan’s followers dragging three of their injured comrades as they escaped to an area controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), currently holding peace talks with the government. Gonzales said they immediately reported the case to a committee formed by the government and the MILF in charge of law enforcement in the disputed areas. Ampatuan was a suspect in the bloodbath whose victims included 32 Mindanao-based journalists as well as the wife and two sisters of Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, the scion of a rival clan running for reelection in the May 13 midterm polls. Also in Mindanao, the military reported that suspected members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) kidnapped a policeman in the town of Nabunturan, Compostela Valley province. The abduction of Police Officer 3 Ruben Nohapa happened at a checkpoint set up by the insurgents in a remote village of Nabunturan early Monday morning. |
| Posted by:ryuge |