Riding in tandem assassins brandishing a baby armalite rifle shot Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema, police said.
The Philippine National Police said Sema sustained a gunshot wound in his right cheek when the killers staged an ambush Tuesday morning along Gonzalo Javier Street at Rosary Heights 7 in Cotabato City. He was rushed to Notre Dame Hospital and now in stable condition.
Reports quoted Senior Superintendent Danny Reyes, director of the Cotabato City police, as saying the attack was undertaken when Sema was on his way home from a city council meeting on board his black Montero.
Police Supt. Resty Damaso, Region 12 police spokesperson, said one of the suspects, Zermin Abdullah was caught. One of Sema’s bodyguards was able to shoot Abdullah. He is now at the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center.
Malacanang condemned the attack on Sema, ordering the PNP to pursue the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
“We condemn the ambush on Vice Mayor Sema and the PNP [Philippine National Police] has been instructed to look into the motives and the perpetrators of the heinous act,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
