CAMP SIONGCO, MAGUINDANAO?A three-year-old boy was killed and six other people, including three other children, were wounded when a mortar from warring armed groups landed on a shelter for evacuees in the border of Maguindanao and North Cotabato, the military here said Friday.

Brig. Gen. Ariel Bernardo, deputy commander of the Army?s 6th Infantry Division, said the victims were civilians displaced by the long-standing rido (family feud) between Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerillas and another armed group operating in Reina Regente, a village in the boundary of Datu Piang in Maguindanao and Pikit in North Cotabato.

Bernardo said one of the mortars landed on an evacuation site in the center of the village past noon on Thursday.

He said killed was Mohammad Abdul, 3, while the wounded were identified as Amiyah Kasim, 9; Laga-Laga Kasim, 4; Toten Pamaloy, 33; Fatimah Buka, 29; Muslimin Sali, 14; and Tawkan Abdul, 32.

Bernardo said Tata Uy, a field commander of the MILF, and armed followers of his relative, Samer Uy, were involved in the rido.

The warring groups have been fighting for more than a week now, said Bernardo.

The MILF, however, said the military was responsible for the civilian casualties.

In a statement, the MILF said soldiers fired mortars at an MILF position near the village.

Bernardo denied the MILF claim, saying the Army did not participate in the armed conflict.

He said while soldiers were deployed near the village, they were stationary.

?We never engaged any of the group,? he said.

The Malaysian-led International Monitoring Group, which keeps watch over a cease-fire deal between the government and MILF, is now investigating, said Bernardo.

Aside from the Reina Regente rido, MILF rebels are also engaged in a dispute with members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the coastal villages of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat since last month.

More than 20,000 civilians have already fled their homes after followers of MILF commander Jing Caludtiag and MNLF commander Randy Karon clashed.

?This is beginning to bring us problems,? Brig. Gen. Ernesto Aradanas, commander of the Army?s 603rd Infantry Brigade, told reporters. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao