The hostilities, which spawned tension in many remote stretches of the thoroughfare, erupted amid an impasse in the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), due to misunderstandings on the issue of ancestral domain.
Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers of the 37th Infantry Battalion were merely patroling Barangay Bayanga in Matanog when the gunmen, positioned inside a house, opened fire with assault rifles.
"The soldiers were provoked and they needed to return fire because there was already imminent danger on their lives," Ando said.
Local officials in Matanog have confirmed that two of the armed men were wounded in the ensuing firefight, which waned only when they ran out of ammunition.
Sunday’s encounter near the Secretary Ramos Highway was the first ever to take place since the government and the MILF re-imposed a ceasefire in the area almost three years ago, with the help of the joint ceasefire committee and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team.
Col. Danilo Garcia, commander of the 603rd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over military units in Matanog and surrounding towns, blamed the armed men for the encounter, which triggered apprehension among local residents.
"Our combatants have been trained to exhaust all diplomatic means of addressing security problems first and will only use their weapons if fired upon." Garcia said.