Massacre suspect killed, another captured in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Policemen shot dead a suspect in the Maguindanao massacre when he resisted arrest and engaged them in a shootout in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao, while another suspect was arrested in a separate operation in another town in the same province, authorities reported Saturday.

Senior Superintendent Melecio Mina, chief of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said police operatives tried to serve an arrest warrant on Maguid Amil during an operation in Datu Unsay around 2 p.m. Friday but the massacre suspect instead lobbed a grenade at the approaching lawmen.

The grenade failed to explode and he fired his handgun, prompting the policemen to fire back, Mina said.

As a result, Amil, 42, a resident of Barangay (village) Iganagampong, was seriously wounded and died later at the Maguindanao provincial hospital in Shariff Aguak town even before he could rec eive treatment, Mina said.

He identified Amil as one of the militiamen under the control of the main suspect in the massacre, Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Andal Jr. was mayor of Datu Unsay, a Maguindanao town created and named after his nickname by the ARMM legislative assembly, when the massacre occurred. Fifty eight people, including more than 30 media workers, were killed.

Andal Jr.; his father, then Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr.; his brother, then ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan; and dozens of other suspects were arrested a few weeks after the killings.

Amil, Mina said, would have been the 100th suspect arrested in connection with the massacre had he not resisted and engaged the lawmen in a shootout.

Also on the same day, another Maguindanao massacre suspect was arrested when government troops were alerted by people who sighted him in Datu Odin town, also in Maguindanao.

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, speaking for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Nasser Guia, 45, a resident of Barangay Meta in Datu Unsay town, became the 101st suspect to fall.

Hermoso said a team of police and Army operatives acting on the tip-off caught up with Guia in the Datu Odin public market.

“He did not resist arrest,” Hermoso said.

Guia, who was on the list of over 100 wanted persons in connection with the massacre and carried a bounty of P250,000 for his arrest, is currently being detained at the Maguindanao police’s provincial headquarters in Shariff Aguak town pending a court order on where he should be locked up.

All Maguindanao massacre suspects already in government custody are being held at a PNP jail in Bicult6an, Muntinlupa.

A few dozen more suspects, including members of the Ampatuan family, remain on the loose.