Cops eye clan war in clashes that left 7 dead

COTABATO CITY—Violence between rival clans in Mindanao has claimed seven lives in one week with both sides clashing on Thursday, authorities said.

Two people were shot dead and two houses burned in the latest outbreak of violence in the strife-torn island of Mindanao, said regional military spokesperson Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay.

The fighting on the outskirts of this city was in apparent retaliation for the ambush of a van on Monday, which left five people dead on the side of local clan leader Bimbo Ayunan, she told Agence France-Presse.

“This is connected to the ambush of the Ayunan family. They harassed the other group they suspected was behind the ambush,” she said.

About 50 armed men led by Ayunan arrived in the area by boat before dawn on Thursday and then immediately fired at the houses inhabited by the rival Karim family, said Petinglay.

The Karim family retaliated, resulting in a gunfight that raged for half an hour before authorities arrived to stop the clash, she added.

The spokesperson said there was a long-standing feud between the two clans but could not say if the latest fighting might be related to next year’s national and local elections.

Muslim clans in Mindanao are notorious for waging prolonged feuds, typically over land, political power or influence. They often use armed followers to attack each other.

Such feuds in Mindanao, which the country’s Muslim minority regard as their homeland, claimed more than 5,500 lives, according to a study by the Asia Foundation. AFP