ZAMBOANGA CITY – A politician running for vice mayor in Basilan province was shot and wounded in an attack before dawn Sunday by motorcycle gunmen in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, police said on Sunday.
Police said the victim, Sihon Indanan, was shot several times in the village of Santa Maria and had been rushed to hospital. The 45-year old former councilor is running against Isabela City Mayor Cherry Akbar, who is on her third and last term, in next year’s polls.
The motive of the attack in unknown, but police said it launched an investigation into the shooting.
“The victim sustained two gunshot wounds in his back and was immediately rushed to Zamboanga City Medical Center for immediate treatment. The investigator on the case recovered 3 empty shells of .45-caliber pistol and one slug,” said Chief Inspector Rogelio Alabata, the regional police spokesman.
Alabata did not give further details of the attack, but said: “police are conducting investigation for the possible arrest of the suspects.”
Last October, at least a dozen people were killed and wounded in a roadside bombing in Isabela City that targeted Vice Mayor Abdulbaki Ajibon, who is also running for mayor next year.
Ajibon’s group was travelling on a convoy of pickup truck and van and passing by Akbar’s house when the motorcycle bomb went off. Three of his security escorts were killed in the attack.
In May 2012, a motorcycle bomb also exploded as Ajibon’s convoy was passing by the same place, although no one was killed or injured in the blast.
Police said the bomb was placed inside the tool box of the motorcycle which was parked near the house of Akbar, whose husband, Basilan Congressman Wahab Akbar, was killed in a 2007 motorcycle bomb attack outside the House of Representatives in Manila.
Basilan is a known stronghold of the rebel group Abu Sayyaf, blamed by authorities for the spate of terrorism and kidnappings in the region. (With a report from E. Dumaboc)
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