Philippine troops arrest another Maguindanao massacre suspect

Philippine troops arrest another Maguindanao massacre suspect
Philippine security forces arrested another suspect in the gruesome Maguindanao massacre and recovered hundreds of assorted ammunitions during a raid in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on Saturday night, Philippine military said Sunday.

Col. Prudencio Asto, public affairs officer of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said they effected the arrest of Tommy Masukat by virtue of a warrant in connection with the November 2009 massacre that left 57 people, mostly journalists, dead.

Masukat was collared by elements of the 45th Infantry Battalion, 14th Mechanized Company, 1st Military Intelligence Battalion, backed up by policemen around 8:30 p.m. Saturday when they swooped down at a warehouse in Manungkaling village, said Asto.

He said the warehouse is allegedly owned by Akmad Tato Ampatuan, the town's vice mayor, who was not around at the time of the raid. Akmad Tato Ampatuan was initially charged over the massacre but was later cleared.

Over 90 suspects, including the patriarch of the Ampatuan political clan -- former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr, are still detained and facing multiple murder charges. The Ampatuans allegedly masterminded the killings.

Asto said the troops seized from the warehouse 22 rounds of 81 mm mortar, 12 rounds of 57 mm recoilless rifle, two rounds of 90 mm recoilless rifle and 163 rounds of ammunition for cal. 50 light machine gun.

Military and police have seized thousands of firearms and millions of assorted ammunition since the massacre. Asto said they hope to recover more war materiel with the help of the civilians, coupled with intelligence operations.

On June 11, government forces dug a cache of firearms and war materiel allegedly owned by the Ampatuans also in Mamasapo town. The cache included four M16 rifles, barrels for machine guns, bipods, and more than 200 mortar rounds.

Two days later, soldiers from the 104th Brigade arrested a suspect in the massacre, Nasser Talib at Poblacion village in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao. Talib's arrest was also covered by a warrant.

Editor: Xiong Tong

English.news.cn   2011-06-19 11:09:01 FeedbackPrintRSS
MANILA, June 19 (Xinhua)