4 killed, 5 injured in Maguindanao clash

(Update - 11:04 pm) Four persons were killed, five injured, and 17 houses burned down in an encounter believed to be part of a clan war between Moro rebels and a group identified with a town councilor in Maguindanao province, police and military officials said Friday. Among the casualties were from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's 105th Base Command under one Commander Basco. This was according to Philippine National Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina who received reports about the incident from Senior Supt. Ben Latag, spokesman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police. Espina said the encounter between Basco's group and that of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town councilor Tamano Mamalapat in Sitio Bulatukan, Brgy. Kitapok lasted for two hours. Seventeen houses were burned in the firefight, according to a GMA News report late Friday night.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV An inter-clan feud, or rido in Maranao language, could be the reason behind the firefight, according to Major Ralph Cabangbang, public information officer of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command. Cabangbang said he received reports alleging that Mamalapat's group had been "harassing" the unit of the MILF commander since 2003. "The AFP, through the coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, is constantly in touch with the MILF leadership as regard to the matter of rido involving members of their organization," Cabangbang said. "We will not allow these personal grudges (to) affect the current peace negotiations," he added. The Philippine government and the MILF resumed their peace talks last December 8. The talks came to a halt in August 2008 after the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional a draft memorandum of agreement expanding the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao. [See:RP, MILF resume peace talks in Kuala Lumpur] Maguindanao province, where the November 23 massacre of 57 people took place, remains under a state of emergency. - JOHANNA CAMILLE L. SISANTE/ARCS/JV, GMANews.TV