Philippine troops wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles yesterday stormed the homes of a powerful clan suspected of involvement in a massacre that left 57 people dead.
More than 100 soldiers and dozens of police raided the mansion of Andal Ampatuan Jr, a local mayor in the southern Philippines who has been charged with 25 counts of murder so far over last week’s slaughter.
Homes of other members of the Ampatuan clan, including the patriarch of the family, who has been the governor of Maguindanao province since 2001, were entered in subsequent raids yesterday morning, authorities said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr was not detained in the raid.
Police said this week they had indicted Ampatuan Sr and four other family members for their alleged role in the massacre, and were waiting for the justice department to decide whether to charge them in court.
Ampatuan Sr had ruled the strife-torn province with the backing of his own private army and installed his family members into a myriad of government positions.
However, the coalition expelled Ampatuan Sr and Jr, as well as another relative who held a senior position on the southern island of Mindanao that encompasses Maguindanao, following the Nov. 23 massacre.
Police allege Ampatuan Jr and 100 of his gunmen shot dead the occupants of a convoy that included relatives of his rival for the post of Maguindanao governor in next year’s elections, as well as a group of journalists.
The rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, said the killings were carried out to stop him from running for office.
The compound that was raided yesterday is surrounded by concrete walls about 2m high and contains the homes of a number of Ampatuan clan members.
GMA television aired footage of one of Ampatuan Sr’s sons, Sajid Ampatuan, crying as an armored troop carrier entered the gate of his compound and with the clan’s security men lying face down on the floor.
The raids took place after investigators on Thursday unearthed a large cache of weapons that had been buried in a vacant lot near the Ampatuan compound, another military official said on GMA television.
“We believe that these were used during the massacre,” Colonel Leo Ferrer, commander of an army brigade in the area who led the search, said in an interview aired by the station.
The weapons inventory included three anti-tank recoilless rifles, five mortars, seven machine guns, 10 rifles and pistols, and more than 100 boxes of bullets.
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