Manila: Security forces killed 12 people during a drug raid in the southern Philippines on Saturday, officials said. It was the bloodiest episode in years in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on narcotics.
A police officer was also killed in the gunbattle, which took place in Sultan Kudarat, a small town in the province of Maguindanao. Two other officers were wounded, officials said.
Members of the national police, accompanied by Philippine marines, had tried to serve a warrant before dawn at a residential compound tied to Pendatun Adsis Talusan, a former village chief who was suspected of involvement in the illegal drug trade, officials said.
[Mark Navales/BenarNews]
A police officer and 12 alleged members of an illegal drugs syndicate were killed in a pre-dawn shootout in the southern Philippines on Saturday, security forces said about the latest eruption of violence in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
The clash occurred when police and members of the Philippine Marine Corps were attempting to serve a search warrant to Pendatun Adsis Talusan, in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao province, security forces said.
Talusan and his companions resisted and shot at law enforcement officers, said Maj. Esmael Madin, the head of the provincial criminal investigation and detection group.