3 killed in anti-narc ops in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO – Anti-narcotics agents, backed by policemen and soldiers, clashed with suspected drug pushers and killing three of them on Thursday in the restive province of Maguindanao in southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said among those killed were a former member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel group which signed an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014. The fighting erupted in Pandag town where Abdulatip Pendaliday, alias Commander Grass Cutter, was slain.

Pendaliday had surrendered to the police in July last year, but allegedly returned to selling crystal meth in Pandag and Datu Paglas towns.

Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, commander of the 33rd Infantry Battalion, said Pendaliday’s group continued their illegal drug trade even after his surrender. He said anti-narcotics agents, accompanied by soldiers and policemen were on their way to serve a warrant on Pendaliday when members of the gang attacked them with automatic rifles in the village of Kabuling.

The fighting lasted over an hour that killed Pendaliday and two other followers. “We were approaching their hideout when they rained bullets on my troops, triggering a heavy exchange of fires,” he said.

Cabunoc said they also recovered three automatic rifles and four grenade launchers, including suspected meth worth over P170,000 in street value. (Moh Saaduddin and Rhoderick Beñez)

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