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COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/14 May) – The convoy of Buluan, Maguindanao Vice Mayor King Jhazzer Mangudadatu encountered suspected sniper fire in North Upi town on Monday afternoon.
The vice mayor, son of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, said he and his group were monitoring the results of yesterday’s election at the time of the incident.
The younger Mangudadatu said in an interview that they were about to leave North Upi around 2pm amid a downpour when he noticed that the van leading the convoy had stopped.
“It was then I received radio call from the first vehicle informing me that they were shot,” he said.
The bullet damaged the left window of white Toyota van which they rented.
The vice mayor reported the incident to the North Upi police.
Mangudadatu recalled he was shuttling between the towns of North Upi and South Upi four times yesterday and kept on transferring from one car to another while monitoring the election results concerning his father.
He surmised it could be sniper fire since they saw nobody at the scene of incident. He did not discount the possibility that it was politically motivated.
North Upi police chief Inspector Reynaldo Gabudao said they were still gathering more information on the reported shooting.
(Ferdinandh Cabrera/MindaNews)
