Nine people were hurt during a shooting and fistfight incident that occurred at a polling precinct in the town of Panglima Estino, Sulu today.
According to the military, six people sustained gunshot wounds while three others were hurt during the fistfight, reported ABS-CBN News. There were no reports of deaths as of posting time.
The violent election-related incident occurred at the Titipon Elementary School, which served as the village’s polling precinct, at around 6:35am, about 30 minutes after it was supposed to open, GMA News reported.
“There was a conflict among different supporters of politicians. That’s how the hostilities started which led to the shooting incident,” Police Gen. Graciano Mijares, regional director of the Police Regional Office of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said in Filipino.
It is still unclear who the people involved in the incident were supporting in the elections.
Voting was postponed and only started after more cops and members of the Philippine Marines arrived to secure the area. The police are still investigating who instigated the shooting, reported Radyo Inquirer.
Meanwhile, another shooting incident occurred in the town of Luuk, also in Sulu. However, there were no casualties, according to reports.
Philippine National Police chief General Oscar Albayalde said that they’ll be sending more cops to Mindanao to ensure that the elections there will be peaceful. His directive follows reports that several explosions occurred this morning in Maguindanao. However, the police chief does not consider the Maguindanao blasts election-related because they occurred far from polling centers, reported GMA News.
