Attacked

March 20
Ali Macabalang, Reuters, ATTACKED
Nash Maulana, Philippine Daily Inquirer, ATTACKED
A gunman shot Macabalang, a stringer for Reuters, and Maulana, a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the country's largest daily newspaper, as they sat in Macabalang's car in the southern city of Cotabato. Macabalang sustained a neck wound, while Maulana was shot twice in the leg. Macabalang, who also heads the media affairs division of the government of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, appears to have been the intended victim in the attack, which occurred less than 200 yards from his home. He escaped more serious injury by accelerating the car as the gunman approached. Following the attack, the assailant fled on foot. Both men were taken to a nearby clinic for treatment. Cotabato lies in a region of Mindanao where Islamic rebel groups have been waging a violent campaign for self-rule.

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