Maguindanao town mayor's house attacked

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  --- Gunmen fired rockets and assault rifles on the house of the re-elected mayor of  Talitay town in Maguindanao Tuesday, causing panic among residents who witnessed election-related hostilities during the May 13  polls.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said combatants of the 68th Infantry Division have been deployed in strategic areas in Talitay to prevent a repeat of the attack on the residential compound of Mayor Montasser Sabal.

Security guards engaged the gunmen that attacked the house of Sabal, who was out of his house then.

No one was reported killed or injured in the hostilities, but the firefight caused panic among villagers..

Sabal told reporters the attack could be related to his election to a second term during the May 13 polls.

Two groups identified with rival political camps in Talitay figured in gunbattles just after the May 13 polls, dislocating  dozens of Moro families.

Hermoso said soldiers are now helping the police and the Talitay LGU to secure the return of the evacuees to their villages.  - John Unson