World

Philippines mayor accused by Duterte of drugs trade links shot dead

July 30, 2017 5:46 pm

A Philippine mayor accused by President Rodrigo Duterte of having links with the illegal drugs trade has been shot dead in a police raid.

Reynaldo Parojinog, mayor of the city of Ozamiz on Mindanao island, was killed with his wife and 10 others at his home as police served a warrant.

Officers were fired on by the mayor’s security guards, officials said.

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More than 7,000 people are said to have been killed since Mr Duterte launched a war on the drugs trade in July 2016.

Police were serving an arrest warrant when they were “met with a volley of fire” by Mr Parojinog’s security guards, officials said.

“The Parojinogs, if you would recall, are included in President Duterte’s list of people involved in the illegal drug trade,” Mr Duterte’s spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Parojinogs denied that there had been any exchange of fire and said the mayor’s camp did not fire a shot.

Mr Parojinog’s brother was also killed in the dawn raid in Ozamiz. His daughter, the city’s vice-mayor, was arrested and faces charges relating to drugs offences, police said.