Southern RP Town Under Siege!

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 09 Apr) – Armed men attacked before dawn Monday a remote southern Philippine town, but there were no immediate of reports of casualties, officials said.

The raiders, armed with rockets and automatic weapons, torched a Protestant church and several houses and also bombed the municipal hall of Tongkil town at around 2 a.m.

Wahid Sahidulla, the town’s mayor, said the gunmen also seized a village called Sigumbal, trapping some 7,000 people. “They attacked our town, burned the church and houses and fired rockets on our town hall,” Sahidulla told the Mindanao Examiner.

The mayor said the attacks were connected to politics and blamed it to his opponents. “They wanted to take control of the elections and scare the people,” he said.

Dozens of people had been killed in poll-related violence across the country where Filipinos are to elect their senators and congressmen and local officials on May 14.

Sahidulla said policemen, who were defending the town, were outnumbered and that many villagers have fled their homes. “The fighting is still going on and there are no soldiers in the area. We do not know how many people were killed or injured in the attacks,” he said.

The Philippine military on Friday warned politicians against using violence in the upcoming polls, saying, security forces are ready to confront them to ensure peace and honest elections.

Officials said soldiers would be used to ensure elections are not hampered by the presence of rebels and terrorists in areas where they are actively operating.

Police said about four dozen people had been killed in election violence since campaign began this month.

Early this month, unidentified men tossed two grenades at the house of an election officer in Marawi City in Lanao province in Mindanao. The blast damaged the house, but there were no reports of injuries or casualties from the attack.

Gunmen also attacked with small rockets the house of a town mayor in Dimataling in Zamboanga del Sur province on the other side of Mindanao. And violence has been reported in many other places in Mindanao, the central Philippines and in Luzon.

Last month, motorcycle gunmen ambushed and killed a politician who was running for the mayoralty race in Maguindanao province.

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. (Mindanao Examiner)