Mayor of Saudi Ampatuan was on a list of people identified by President Duterte as being involved in the drug trade.
Duterte's deadly crime war has claimed more than 3,800 lives [Al Jazeera]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.
The Philippines' Duterte inches away from US and closer to China
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.
"After he and his wife turned themselves to the police, their compound was searched and no drugs were found," he said.
Dimaukom has been previously named by Duterte of involvement in illegal drugs [YouTube]
"But significantly at that time, because he was suspected
and on the list, his official police and military security detail were
taken away."
Duterte's deadly crime war has claimed more than 3,800 lives
and drawn criticism from the US, the UN and international rights groups
who have accused police of summarily executing suspects.
Duterte, who swept to power in May elections on a pledge to
eradicate drugs, has described his critics as "fools" and said he is not
breaking any domestic laws by threatening to kill criminals.
After returning from a trip to Japan late Thursday, he threatened to step up police killings of drug suspects.
In September, the EU called on the Philippine government to put an end to the killings of drug suspects.
Duterte replied by unleashing a series of expletives against the bloc.
"I have read the condemnation of the European Union. I'm
telling them, 'F**k you,'" Duterte said in a mix of Tagalog and English,
before describing the EU as hypocrites trying to "atone" for guilt over
its members occupying other countries in the past.
Talk to Al Jazeera - Rodrigo Duterte: Death, drugs and diplomacy
Heavy shelling takes place in government-held areas while shelling of a school kills several children.
Aleppo has been, for years, split between a government-held western sector and the rebel-held east [Reuters]
Syrian
rebels staged a counterattack in Aleppo with heavy shelling of
government-held areas after weeks-long Russian-backed offensive against
besieged districts held by rebels.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a
British-based monitoring group, said rebel shelling had killed more than
15 civilians and wounded 100 others in government-held western Aleppo
on Friday.
The SOHR added that hundreds of shells and rockets had
fallen on various western neighbourhoods of the city as the rebels aimed
to break a siege that government and allied militias imposed in the
summer with aerial support from Russia.
Aleppo, Syria's most populous city before the war, has
for years been split between a government-held western sector and the
rebel-held east, which the army and its allies managed to put under
siege this summer.
Inside Story - What has Russia accomplished in Syria?
"There is a general call-up for anyone who can bear arms," a
senior official in the Levant Front rebel group, which fights under the
Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner, told Reuters news agency.
"The preparatory shelling started this morning."
Syrian rebels also launched Grad rockets at Aleppo's Nairab
air base as part of the new offensive aimed at breaking the government
siege of insurgent-held areas of the city, a rebel official and SOHR
said on Friday.
The BM-21 Grad is a Soviet truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher which was developped in the 1950s.
Zakaria Malahifji, an official with the Fastaqim rebel group present in Aleppo, said bombardment of the air base was part of the new offensice and a number of rebel groups would participate in it.
"Today is supposed to be the launch of the battle," Malahifji said. "All the rebel groups will participate."
SOHR has also confirmed that Grad rockets had struck Nairab
air base and also locations around the Hmeimim air base, near Latakia.
Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, said "opposition
fighters in Aleppo have been talking about this offensive for weeks and
now they are saying that they began firing rockets at the airbase".
"They have also targeted the west of Aleppo with more
rockets and we are also hearing about a car bomb," he said. "Opposition
fighters are calling these battle 'the mother of all battles'."
'Rebel' attack on school
Seperately, shelling by Syrian rebels killed several
children at a school in government-held western Aleppo on Thursday, the
monitoring group and Syrian state TV said.
The shells hit two neighbourhoods, Syrian state news agency
SANA reported. Shahaba, where three children were killed and dozens
wounded, and Hamdaniya, where three people were killed.
SOHR said six children under the age of 16 had been killed in the two attacks.
The attacks came a day after air raids on a school in a rebel-held village killed more than 30 people in Idlib, 50km away.
Wednesday's air strikes hit a school in
the Haas village in rebel-held Idlib, killing at least 36 people -
including 22 children and six teachers - an attack that Western
countries have blamed on the Syrian military and Russian air force.
Moscow has denied involvement.
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![Aleppo has been, for years, split between a government-held western sector and the rebel-held east [Reuters]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v8c3IzbNxYfgjy4p96M9jbHhsVhLb9puCdt_uvVdn1LANbjIOmDcBHJXpKGt0-rVvSrSlKs7xYVm6fZWSobhK167VpEsmofJ09R_MT_GggpfR4tbCeWKGtLNXPQgP7x2X8awIe5TRN69mbNcdE1RFV6pXLDyzfIR17vwps2UVnPDyYoQ7Y4fVgcudC1npKSUe_eFtPKT0o3n3O2328=s0-d "Syrian rebels launch Aleppo counterattack")
![Aleppo has been, for years, split between a government-held western sector and the rebel-held east [Reuters]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v6H2bFcWQI7clYcLnbdWXtBOPBxQ9dAc2fEOZKlnqjeBFqgq7EVO0n9DJ76IeM9d_MY8N3WRIU5jWc89QezZ2NcldAspxNf2GMUSHqabk3pxSvedweeAyLwWWgYxqpis81XikGtPBscgKwQFhT3FcPEJwfD8cnGBfxcXcM8XuvnuVXsOPtMz3X66l9igBqlN-zzufYn6TQOCopTQ=s0-d "Syrian rebels launch Aleppo counterattack")
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