Campaign kills mayor

A PHILIPPINE mayor accused of involvement in narcotics trafficking was shot dead along with 14 other people in a police raid Sunday – the latest official to die in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Mr Duterte has singled out local officials, policemen and judges as part of a crackdown that has made him popular with many Filipinos but has been condemned by human rights groups and other critics.

Among those Mr Duterte named was Reynaldo Parojinog, mayor of Ozamiz city on the southern island of Mindanao. He was killed along with his wife, his brother and 12 others in what police described as a dawn raid on his home.

“Police were serving a search warrant when the security guards of the mayor fired at them, so our policemen retaliated,” regional spokesman Superintendent Lemuel Gonda said.