Civilians flee Sulu town as 2 feuding clans fight

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Several houses and business centers were destroyed in Pangutaran, an island town in Sulu, while terrified civilians fled as the town was beset with heavy fighting by two political clans.

A businessman who fled from Pangutaran said most of the houses made of light material were destroyed by the exchange of gunfire between the warring Hadani and Sanoh families.

The feud between the two camps began in December 1999 when Mayor Abdul Sanoh was killed, and his family refused to relinquish the local post to then Vice Mayor Hadja Mutchapon Hadani, wife of former Mayor Ibrahim Hadani.

The Hadani wife is facing Marganih Sanoh, son of the murdered mayor, for the post of Pangutaran mayor.

Responding elements of the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion and of the 104th Army Brigade were also subjected to mortar fire.

The military disclosed that 70 members of the Abu Sayyaf had reinforced one of the group with mortar fire.

Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman of the Armed Forces Southern Command, said soldiers have killed two Abu Sayyaf members and wounded an undetermined number. — Roel Pareño