At least six armed gunmen, three of whom have been arrested, opened fire at Governor Roel Degamo a Philippine provincial governor and killed him.
Also killed by the men in military uniform were eight others in the governor’s home in Pamplona municipality in the central province of Negros Oriental.
According to authorities, another suspect was shot dead.
Governor Roel Degamo became the latest victim of a recent rash of assaults on local Philippine politicians.
The statement by the Philippine Army showed that two of the three suspects arrested were former soldiers who were dishonorably discharged several years ago.
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Seventeen people were also wounded in the audacious attack on Saturday in the sugarcane-growing heartland of the Philippines, where a fourth suspect was killed according to the police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Pelare.
Negros Oriental is one of two provinces on Negros island, which is the centre of the nation’s sugar industry and home to some of the country’s wealthiest landowners as well as some of its poorest farm workers.
Degamo, 56, was at least the third politician to be shot in the Philippines since last year’s general election.