Candidate for Maguindanao provincial board, grandson killed in North Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — Gunmen shot dead a candidate for a provincial post in Maguindanao and her grandson in an ambush Sunday in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Superintendent Aldrin Gonzalez, spokesman of Police Regional Office-12, said Susan Montawal and grandson Harris died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.

Montawal was running for a seat on the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Maguindanao province.

Her husband, Mohalidin, is from the Montawal political clan in nearby Montawal town in Maguindanao, and is a close relative of the mayor and vice mayor there.

Gonzalez said Montawal and her grandson were in a van near the public market of Kabacan when gunmen shot at them. Two bystanders were wounded in the incident, now both confined in a hospital.

The shooters managed to escape before police and barangay watchmen could reach the scene.

Investigators said the ambush on Sunday could be related to a recent spate of deadly shooting incidents in Montawal town.