Three shot dead, 15 wounded ahead of polls in Philippine Muslim enclave

Intelligence summary

COTABATO, Philippines: Three people were killed and 15 others wounded as gunfire erupted hours before polls were to open Monday in a semi-autonomous Muslim region of the Philippines set to choose its first elected parliament. The vote is the culmination of an on-off peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country’s far south. Cotabato police chief Jibin Bongcayao said the shooting took place just before midnigh