Clashes in Maguindanao del Norte island leave 7 armed men dead

Maguindanao del Norte. INQUIRER FILES

COTABATO CITY – A bloody encounter between two armed groups in an island village in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte left seven alleged gunmen dead, police and military authorities reported Saturday.

Col. Christopher Panapan, chief investigator of the Police Regional Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the armed clashes occurred in Bongo Island, off the coast of Parang town on Friday.

“One of the armed groups belonged to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) while the other was led by a certain Aragasi Tamano, a resident of Bongo Island,” Panapan said in a report.

Initial information showed that several motorized bancas loaded with MILF fighters, led by certain commanders Macmod and Bayam from Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, arrived in Bongo Island and clashed with the group of Tamano at about 10 a.m.

Members of the Parang municipal police and the 2nd Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT-2) proceeded to Bongo Island to protect the civilians, but were fired upon by gunmen aboard a motorized pump boat at 1 p.m.

It triggered armed hostilities between government forces and the gunmen.

The battle left three MILF fighters dead.

Their bodies were fished out and brought to a funeral parlor in Poblacion Parang.

According to the MBLT-2, four other bodies of MILF fighters were later taken from the sea.

The soldiers also recovered two motorboats and assorted firearms.

Panapan said no civilian casualties were reported and the situation in the area has normalized.

“We are determining what triggered the skirmishes involving the armed men,” Panapan said.

Civilians in the village claimed that the warring groups were locked in a long-standing “rido” (family feud).

Police and Marines in the area are on heightened alert for possible retaliation from comrades of the slain persons. (PNA)