7 armed men dead in Maguindanao police raid

RADJAH BUAYAN, Maguindanao — Seven men, among them a wanted person, were killed in a brief gunfight with a police team in Barangay Mileb here before dawn Wednesday.

Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region were to arrest Torque Utto Latip, the alleged leader of the group, but the attempt turned haywire when they opened fire, provoking a gunfight.

A member of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 14, a rapid reaction unit of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, was wounded in the ensuing gunfight that resulted in the death of Latip and his six companions.

Brig. Gen. Arthur Cabalona, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the operation was launched after villagers had reported the presence of Latip in Sitio Tina in Barangay Mileb.

One of the seven fatalities, Haron Akmad, was a senior member of the 105th Base Command of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, according to sources in Barangay Mileb.

Latip had pending frustrated murder and robbery with homicide cases in local courts

The police team that neutralized Latip and his coddlers found in the scene of the encounter two bolt-action sniper rifles, two .30 caliber Garand rifles, an M16 rifle, an M203 rifle, an M14 rifle and a 9 millimeter Ingram machine pistol.