Suspect Seized With Gun Near Aquino Stage
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TACLOBAN, Philippines — Police arrested a suspected Communist assassin armed with a grenade and pistol Sunday near a stage from which President Corazon Aquino was to address an election rally, military officials said.
They said soldiers seized a .45-caliber revolver and a grenade from the suspected member of a “sparrow” death squad in the city of Tacloban on Leyte Island, about 360 miles southeast of Manila.
Officials said the man, identified as Doming Maray, in his late 40s, was arrested about 90 minutes before Aquino’s arrival and about 50 yards from a stage where she was to speak.
Police said they arrested Maray because they recognized him as a suspect in the killing of a paramilitary agent last month. They said he is known as a leading member of the Communist New People’s Army in the area and allegedly is a member of a “sparrow unit,” the popular name for Communist death squads.
Police said they did not know whether Maray planned to attack Aquino. He was being held for questioning.
Aquino, who last week declared “open season” on the assassins, later spoke as planned at the Tacloban rally.
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