Moro factions trade shots, 1 hurt

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - A farmer was wounded on Wednesday in one of two gun battles involving rival Moro factions and government forces in Matalam town.

The skirmishes sent dozens of Moro and Christian families scampering to safety.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the 6th ID has asked the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to immediately intervene to prevent a repeat of the hostilities.

The first of the two firefights involved rival groups of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) squabbling for control of strategic patches of lands in Barangay Manubuan in the southwest of Matalam.

The running firefight between the two groups, armed with assault rifles and 40-millimeter grenade launchers, waned only after both sides ran out of ammunition and disengaged.

While the feuding MILF and MNLF forces were trading shots, another group of Moro guerillas attacked a detachment of combined militiamen and soldiers in nearby Barangay Malamote also in the same municipality.

2Lt. Leonard Flores of the 7th Infantry Battalion said some 50 guerillas of the MILF’s 108th Base Command were responsible for the harassment of the detachment.

The MILF rebels tried to breach the perimeter fences of the detachment, but failed when soldiers and militiamen engaged them in a gunfight.

Barangay officials said a Moro farmer was hit by a stray bullet during the encounter at Barangay Malamote.

Hermoso said the the 6th ID and the Army’s 602nd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over Matalam and surrounding towns, will not retaliate on the MILF forces that harassed the detachment of the 7th IB.

He said the 6th ID will have the incident investigated first by the joint ceasefire committee in keeping with security protocols agreed by the government and the MILF.

The joint ceasefire committee is comprised of representatives from the MILF, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces.