Families flee fighting in Ampatuan town

MANILA, Philippines -- Dozens of Moro and Teduray families were dislocated by the running firefights between law enforcement teams and followers of a wanted narco-politician on Thursday in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.

Senior Army officials on Friday said the evacuees abandoned their homes in the adjoining Barangays Salman and Saniag as combined police and military personnel clashed in the outskirts of the villages with the group of Ampatuan Mayor Rasul Sangki.

Sangki is included in Malacañang's list of politicians allegedly involved in trafficking of methamphetamine hydrochloride, more known as "shabu."   

Superintendent Jimmy Daza -- regional chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao -- and provincial police director Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, had separately confirmed that the mayor was the target of Thursday’s law enforcement operation in the municipality.

Tello said seven soldiers -- a certain Sgt. Remulta, Cpl. Raffy Matingkal, and Privates Eldie Mallorca, Erwin Mistoso, Alden Cahoy,  Harold John Dionisio, and Jerusel Castañeda -- were wounded in the skirmishes.

Tello said the wounded soldiers were immediately rushed to a hospital.

He said the wounded soldiers were helping the police search for Sangki in the hinterlands of Ampatuan in an operation that commenced before dawn Thursday.

Barangays Salman and Saniag are in the southwestern part of Ampatuan in the second district of Maguindanao, a short distance from the scene of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

Tello said the hostilities erupted when followers of Sangki, armed with M-14 and M-16 assault rifles and 40-millimeter grenade launchers, opened fire at combined CIDG agents and Army troopers who were trying to encircle their hideout to arrest the mayor.

Tello said four of Sangki’s followers were killed while three others were wounded in the ensuing encounter.

Officials of ARMM's Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team said Friday morning that more than 50 families in Barangays Salman and Saniag on Thursday evacuated to safer areas for fear of getting trapped in the crossfire.

The HEART immediately provided the evacuees with food procured from stores in nearby Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao. 

Some 50 more families were seen leaving the two barangays at dusk Thursday.