Philippine anti-narcotics officers gunned down a town mayor and nine of his men in a clash in one of the bloodiest operations since President Rodrigo Duterte launched a crackdown on illegal drugs.
Samsudin Dimaukom, mayor of the southern town of Saudi Ampatuan, was one of more than 150 local government officials, judges and police identified by Duterte earlier this year as being involved in the illegal drug trade.
He ordered them to surrender immediately or be hunted down.
The mayor had turned himself in to police but denied he was involved in the illegal drug trade. He had told the media that he was fighting illegal drugs himself and supported Duterte's crackdown.
Ahead of the shootout on Friday, police received information that Dimaukom's group was planning to transport a "huge" amount of methamphetamine from Davao city, Duterte's hometown, to Maguindanao province, where Saudi Ampatuan is located.
Police spokesman Superintendent Romeo Galgo said Dimaukom and his security personnel opened fire after anti-narcotics police stopped their vehicles at a checkpoint on suspicion they were transporting illegal drugs.
Officers returned fire, killing the men in the town of Makilala, about 950 kilometres south of the capital Manila.
"Suspects [were] heavily armed and fired upon the law enforcers, which prompted them to fire back," Galgo said.
Al Jazeera's Rob McBride, reporting from Manila, said no drugs were found when Dimaukom's compound was searched at an earlier date.
Source: Aje
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