COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 10, 2012) – The deputy mayor of Cotabato City and also the chairman of the former Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front was shot and wounded in a daring attack Tuesday.
Muslimen Sema, former secretary-general of the MNLF, was shot in his car, but he survived the assassination attempt. One of his two attackers Zermin Abdullah was also shot and seriously wounded by Sema’s bodyguards, but he later died.
The politician was rushed to hospital where he is recuperating from gunshot wounds.
Reports said Sema was on his way home after presiding over the city council session when he was attacked at the busy business district of Cotabato.
The second gunman escaped on a motorcycle. Sema, whose wife is a member of the House of Representatives, was a former mayor of Cotabato City.
Police said it is still investigating the motive of the attack.
Sema, along with senior MNLF leaders that made up the so-called Council of 15, have unseated Nur Misuari as chairman of the former rebel group in a coup launched in 2001.
Sema’s group ousted Misuari, then governor of the four-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, for failing to improve the lives of Muslims in Mindanao and for lack of confidence.
Others in the group were Parouk Hussin, Yusop Jikiri, Hatimil Hassan, Abdul Sahrin, Alfatah Abubakar, Uttoh Salem and Manda Amilhamsa, and seven other state chairmen.
But Misuari’s loyal followers dissolved the council that ousted him and installed Misuari as chairman of the MNLF. (Mindanao Examiner)
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