Maguindanao mayor, 9 others killed in police anti-drug operation in North Cotabato

MAKILALA, North Cotabato -– A Maguindanao town mayor
named by President Duterte as narcopolitician in August was killed along with
his nine heavily armed escorts during the implementation of Oplan Double Barrel
in Makilala, North Cotabato, police said.

Supt. Bernard Tayong, speaking for North Cotabato police
provincial office, said among the 10 fatalities was Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom,
mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

Tayong said the victims were rushed to Makilala Medical
Specialist Hospital but were pronounced dead on arrival.

Tayong said police anti-illegal drug task force was implementing
a checkpoint along a highway in Barangay Old Bulatukan, Makilala at 4:30 a.m.
when three vehicles were flagged down.

Three vehicles were loaded with heavily armed men and opened
fire on law enforcers prompting authorities to fire back, Tayong told reporters.

He said police have received information that Dimaukom’s group
was to transport huge stocks of shabu to Maguindanao and Cotabato City from
Davao.

It was a legitimate anti-drug operation but the subjects opened
fire on our troops, said Supt. Romeo Galgo Jr, speaking for Police Regional
Office 12. sand//scontent.fceb2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-12/14570423_10211160323752238_5422259951141592803_n.jpg?oh=ea9ea77813d10ec482c6bb79feacb1ffandampoe=5815B56F

(Mayor Dimaukom's back-up car, a Toyota D4D van - Photo courtesy of North Cotabato police office/PRO-12 PIO)Galgo said scene of the crime operatives are still conducting
post encounter operations as of posting.

A witness who saw the crime scene said a police car and a
passenger van believed to be in Dimaukom’s convoy were riddled with bullets. Supt. Tayong said Badrudin Carinda, employee of Datu Saudi Ampatuan voluntarily identified the fatalities as Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom, 53, mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao Mubarak Ali Pasagui, 26 driver Fahad Dimananal, 25 Almer Ali, 20, photographer Aladin Guiamad, 35, Fahir Madi, 28, both employees of local government of Datu Saudi Ampatuan armed security escorts Bashir Mindog, 25 Haimen Anuar, 23 Suad Adam Guiamad, 24, and Nasrudin Alon, 28, all residents of Datu Saudi Ampatuan. Dimaukom was in his second term as mayor of Datu Saudi in the second district of Maguindanao.

Datu Saudi is a known hotbed of Islamic militancy, where forces of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are holding out.The municipality was named after Datu Saudi, son of former Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the alleged mastermind in the now infamous Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre, which shook the nation to its core.
Datu Saudi and more than ten of his security escorts were killed in a roadside bombing in Datu Piang, Maguindanao on December 23, 2003, while mayor of the same town then