7 hurt in brawl among political supporters in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A free-for-all fist fight between supporters of two rival political parties left six of them wounded and another one admitted into a hospital for a gunshot wound during Monday’s balloting in Maguindanao.

Dr. Tahir Sulaik, Maguindanao health chief, said the victims with cuts and contusions were rushed to the provincial hospital at Shariff Aguak, while the man with a bullet wound in the abdomen, who was in need of immediate surgery was brought to a nearby hospital in Tacurong City. He was shot by an unidentified suspect in Timbangan village of Saidona Mustapha town.

Sulaik said the six out-patients, who claimed to be either supporters of the ruling Liberal Party or the dominant opposition United Nationalist Alliance, had a heated altercation that led to a square-off, which temporarily suspended the ongoing poll activity in a Sultan sa Barongis voting center.

The victims told hospital authorities said they stopped fighting when they heard warning shots a sudden explosion from nowhere.