Kidapawan police on alert due to land conflict

KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato – Police here have been placed on heightened alert following clashes in an outlying village that have left three farmers dead and two policemen wounded.

Senior supt. Danilo Peralta, North Cotabato police chief, said armed men attacked the village of Nazareth here on Friday night, triggering an exchange of gunfire between the attacking forces and Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team.

Peralta said the attack on Nazareth was due to a land dispute involving settlers who were trying to defend their communities from each other.

After the shooting, police deployed to maintain the peace were met with gunfire from armed men believed to be from the adjacent province of Maguindanao.

Peralta said police were verifying reports that the attackers belonged to members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who have relatives among one of the groups claiming ownership of a piece of government land in Nazareth.

Peralta identified the wounded policemen as Insp. Randy Apostol and SP01 Edwin Maglate who responded to reports of shooting in the village.

Police said the identities of the slain farmers were not immediately available.

Additional police forces to serve as peacekeepers are already in the area to prevent another shooting war between two groups of land claimants.