Cops implicated in massacre
2009-11-24 14:10
Manila - The top policeman in the southern Philippine province where 46 people were murdered was sacked and detained on Tuesday after three of his deputies were implicated in the massacre, authorities said.
Witnesses said Chief Superintendent Sukarno Dicay, the deputy police chief of Maguindanao province, was present when gunmen allegedly linked to a political kingpin shot dead associates of a rival politician and journalists.
"He (Dicay) was seen at the scene of the crime together with some CAFGUs," national police chief spokesperson Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said.
The CAFGU refers to the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit militia, which is trained and armed by the government to fight local insurgencies.
Two other police officers seen with Dicay at the crime scene had also been sacked and detained, according to Espina.
He said Dicay's boss and provincial police chief, Director Abusana Maguid, had also been sacked and detained "because of command responsibility".
Espina said witnesses told investigators Dicay and his two subordinates were seen with a group of armed men believed linked to provincial governor Andal Ampatuan when they allegedly carried out the killings on Monday.
Altogether, 24 bodies were recovered on Tuesday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 46.
An AFP journalist on the scene said the corpses were found under around seven metres of dirt, and were already starting to smell in the tropical heat.
Local press organisations said the dead included at least 12 journalists, making Monday's shootings the world's single deadliest attack on the press in modern history.
The victims were travelling on a highway when they were stopped and taken to an isolated area and gunned down, police and the military said.
The military said the Ampatuan clan, which has a political lock on the areas of Maguindanao, were the prime suspects.
"The suspects are bodyguards of Ampatuan, local police aides and certain lawless elements," military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Romeo Brawner said.
- SAPA
