MANILA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Police killed early on Friday a former mayor and his brother in southern Philippines' Maguindanao province in anti-drug operations.

Based on initial police reports, former Parang city mayor Talib Abo and his brother opened fire at the policemen who were about to serve them search warrants past midnight on Friday.

Abo was on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's list of narco politicians.

Juvenal Azurin, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) regional director in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Abo and his brother "resisted and shot it out with our teams."

He said the siblings were rushed to a hospital where they later died.

Azurin added that several high-powered firearms and some illegal drugs were seized during the raids.

In 2006, Duterte, then Davao city mayor, tagged Abo as a narco politician who tried to smuggle methamphetamine into Davao city from Cotabato city.

Since taking office in 2016, Duterte has carried out a "war on drugs," vowing to eradicate illegal drugs until his term ends.