Sunday, November 28, 2010

Maguindanao deputy mayor killed in gun attack

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 28, 2010) – Gunmen shot dead a southern Philippine town mayor and an ally of a political clan accused in the brutal murder of 58 people in Mindanao, authorities said.

It said two young men shot Alexander Tomawis, the vice mayor of Maguindanao’s Barira town, in Davao City where the official attended a gathering. It was unknown whether the shooters were arrested or had escaped after the killing and no individual or group owned up to the assassination.

Police and military gave no details of the attack.

Tomawis was last month accused of illegally taking ballots used in special elections in his town after security forces intercepted his convoy at a checkpoint.

The politician was a political ally of the Ampatuan clan, whose patriarch Andal Sr and sons Zaldy Ampatuan and Andal Jr and other relatives were accused of murdering 57 people, including at least 32 journalists who accompanied a political convoy last year in Maguindanao, once of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

Most of the clan members and other accused in the killings were arrested and are facing multiple murder charges. The clan denied all accusations against them. (Mindanao Examiner)

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