Second Philippine mayor shot dead
Manila, July 4 : A second Philippines town mayor has been shot dead by an unknown assailant, a day after another mayor was assassinated by a sniper in a brazen daylight attack, police said on Wednesday.
Mayor Ferdinand Bote of the town of General Tinio in Nueva Ecija province was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding suspect in nearby Cabanatuan City on Tuesday afternoon, the police told CNN Philippines.
Bote was struck multiple times while riding in his SUV.
He was declared dead on arrival at a hospital and an investigation has been launched.
"We assure everyone that we would discharge the state obligation for every murder. We will spare no effort in getting to the bottom of this latest violent crime," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.
The killing comes just over 24 hours after Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili was killed by a single shot to the chest while attending a flag-raising ceremony.
Halili was a controversial ally of President Rodrigo Duterte who gained notoriety for his policy of parading people arrested for drug offences, reports CNN.
It was revealed on Monday that Halili had been stripped of his authority over local police in October 2017 on an order from the Department of Interior, according to Police Chief Superintendent Renato Mercado.
It remains unclear if the two deaths are linked.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
