Shots fired inside BARMM polling center in Cotabato City - Rappler

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COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Shots were fired inside the Central Pilot Elementary School in Cotabato City, a voting center for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (BARMM) first parliamentary elections on Monday, September 14.

Voting in the school was already delayed as the automated counting machines arrived nearly an hour after the scheduled early voting at 5 am. The shooting happened minutes before 7 am.

Before the shootout, a commotion occurred involving groups of men, who, at one point, were throwing stones at each other. 

Rappler saw a wounded man in that commotion, who said he was punched. He claimed that he was not a voter in the school but a poll watcher.

When gunfire erupted, voters ran to safety, while military personnel from the Philippine government continued to secure the premises.

Cotabato City, Bangsamoro’s regional center, has been placed under control of the Commission of Elections over incidents of violence. – with reports from Iya Gozum and John Sitchon/Rappler.com