You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Southeast Asia
Soldiers storm suspects homes
2009-12-05
[Straits Times] PHILIPPINE troops wearing body armour and carrying assault rifles on Friday stormed the homes of a powerful clan suspected of involvement in a massacre that left 57 people dead.
My goodness. It seems that Ampatuan scion touched a nerve -- they're so touchy about the rape and murder of the wives and daughters of the great families by mere henchmen over there. If only the policemen had confined their romantic attentions to the maids, as is proper.
The dramatic raids came after authorities found a huge cache of pistols, rifles and other weapons believed used in the killings that were buried just a few hundred metres (yards) from the Ampatuan family's compound of mansions.

'They are looking for guns, bullets, everything. The warrant covers everything,' regional military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce told AFP shortly after troops poured into the compound on Friday morning.

More than 100 soldiers and dozens of police initially raided the home of Andal Ampatuan Jnr, a local mayor in the southern Philippines who has been charged with 25 counts of murder so far over last week's slaughter.

Homes belonging to 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, authorities said.

The governor, Andal Ampatuan Snr, was not detained in the raid but it was the most dramatic phase in the apparent downfall of a man who until last week enjoyed the backing of President Gloria Arroyo's ruling coalition.
Posted by:Fred

00:00