COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Mar) – Unidentified motorcycle gunmen ambushed Thursday a Muslim politician, killing his wife and a bodyguard, in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said Kagi Mastur Salendab was seriously wounded in the attack, but his wife, Hudah Mangelen and bodyguard Oscar Salendab were killed. They were attack near a petrol station in Sultan Kudarat’s Quirino town.
Mastur Salendab and his wife were onboard their vehicle when two motorcycle gunmen attacked them at around 8 a.m.
Salendab was on his way to the office of the Commission on Elections in nearby Tacurong City to file his candidacy for the mayoralty post in Datu Paglat town.
“Troops have put up road blocks and checkpoints around the town to help local police enforced gun ban,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner newspaper.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Ando said the killings may be connected to politics. He did not elaborate.
Police is still investigating the ambush. Salendab, who is in critical condition, was a former assemblyman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). It was unknown whether Salendab is running under President Gloria Arroyo’s Kampi party or with the opposition.
At least 11 people had been killed in poll-related violence across the Philippines.
Filipinos are to elect their senators and congressmen and local officials in national elections set in May.
Elections in the Philippines, particularly in the Muslim autonomous region, are traditionally bloody. Many politicians maintain private armed goons to harass their opponents and intimidate voters. (Mark Navales, Juan Magtanggol and Juley Reyes)
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