COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 24, 2014) – Police killed three suspected hired killers, one of them was allegedly involved in the 2009 brutal murders of 58 people, among them more than 30 journalists and media workers, in Maguindanao province in the Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines.
Police raided the hideout of the men on June 23 after receiving reports the trio was out in murderous mission in Cotabato City. One of the men opened on police forces sparking a firefight that killed all three suspects.
It was unclear how the police managed to uncover the plot, but several undercover cops were dispatched to carry out surveillance in the area before raiding the hideout.
The identities of those killed were not immediately confirmed by the police although several names had been linked to the men.
The slain gunmen were reportedly natives of Maguindanao province where the massacre occurred. The journalists were covering a political convoy of the Mangudadatu when they came under attack from gunmen who were followers of a rival Ampatuan clan.
Most of those involved in the murders had been arrested or captured, including the clan’s patriarch. (J. Magtanggol)
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