Police shoot dead Philippine massacre suspect
9 February AFP
Philippine police have shot dead a suspect in the 2009 killings of 57
people, the country's worst political massacre, a senior officer said
yesterday.
Maguid Amil resisted arrest after being approached by policemen in
the strife-torn southern province of Maguindanao hurling a grenade and
firing a pistol at them, Senior Superintendent Melencio Mina said. The
grenade did not explode but officers fired back, killing Amil, he added.
Elsewhere in Maguindanao another suspect, Nasser Guia, was arrested by
police acting on a tip-off, Mina said.
Both Guia and Amil were allegedly part of the private army of the
powerful Ampatuan clan who stopped a rival political group's convoy and
herded dozens to an isolated hillside where they were murdered. "Both
Amil and Guia were among those who flagged down the convoy in November,
2009 and were among those who herded the victims to the massacre site,"
said Mina, quoting eyewitnesses. The killing of members of the rival
clan, lawyers, journalists and even by-standers, was believed intended
to prevent a rival candidate from running against an Ampatuan in
elections in May 2010.
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