NORTH COTABATO – Police shot dead a politician in a gun battle Tuesday during an anti-narcotics operation in North Cotabato province in southern Philippines.
The slain politician, Dindo Piang, who ran for vice mayor in Pikit town, but lost in the May polls, allegedly attacked security forces out to search the houses of suspected drug pushers, sparking a fire fight. Piang’s son, Amir, said his father did not engage security forces in gun battle, but had been killed outside their house.
Amir said his father was shot while raising his hands in the air.
Police, backed by army soldiers, also arrested several persons, including a son of a police official, and seized illegal weapons, including an automatic rifle owned by a member of the Special Action Force killed in clashes with Moro rebels in nearby Maguindanao province in January last year.
There was no report of casualties on the government side and police said one of those arrested – Nasser Karim – is the son of Senior Inspector Sindatu Karim, the town’s deputy police chief. The SAF rifle was also recovered from the young Karim, but it was not immediately known how he acquired the weapon.
But the elder Karim said his son is a member of the Barangay Police Action Team. (Rhoderick Beñez)
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