Philippine Governor Slain by Rebels
Communist guerrillas shot and killed a Philippine provincial governor Wednesday, authorities said.
The military said two men believed to be members of a Communist death squad shot and killed Gregorio Murillo, governor of Surigao del Sur province on Mindanao Island, 510 miles southeast of Manila.
Murillo, 58, was the highest civilian official to be killed by rebels this year. He had been governor for more than a decade.
Guerrillas have killed more than 70 officials, including about a dozen mayors and several village heads, in previous attacks this year, many occurring on Mindanao.
Col. Jesus Hermosa, the deputy operations commander based in Davao city, said Murillo angered insurgents by criticizing them in his broadcasts on a local radio station.
“The governor, because of his uncompromising stand against the New People’s Army (the armed wing of the Communist Party), had been earmarked for liquidation,” Hermosa said in a telephone interview.
Hermosa said a gunman with a companion crept up behind Murillo’s vehicle after it stopped on a road and shot the governor in the back of the head.
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