COTABATO CITY ? A Chinese-Filipino businessman running for the city council was shot dead by still unidentified men near his home here on Monday, police said.

Two of his minor children were wounded.

Senior Inspector Wally Kasuyo, city police mobile group director, identified the victim as Joseph Kwan Datuwata, 42, of Barangay Rosary Heights 10.

Datuwata, who belonged to the party of mayoral candidate Bai Zeny Dilangalen, wife of Maguindanao Representative Didagen Dilangalen, was about to leave his home with his two children when two men shot him with .45-cal. pistols.

Chase

Police said the assailants chased Datuwata to TV Juliano Avenue and LR Sebastian Street. The candidate traded shots with the attackers, police said.

Kasuyo, quoting witnesses, said one of the attackers, who were riding on a motorcycle, was wounded.

Datuwata was driving his pick-up van when he was shot at around 7 a.m.

Police found the van at the street corner where Datuwata fell.

Two handguns were recovered inside the vehicle, Kasuyo said.

He said no one could say whether the incident was election related.

The city is under a state of emergency following last year?s massacre of 57 people in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao