4 killed as MILF groups clash in Maguindanao del Sur 

COTABATO CITY --- Four were killed in separate gunfights Tuesday between rival Moro groups in two towns in Maguindanao del Sur that forced dozens of poor families to relocate to safe areas.

Lt. Nurjhasser Sali, municipal police chief of Datu Montawal, told reporters Wednesday a gunman named Khalid Mindalagat perished when two Moro clans, armed with assault rifles, fought Tuesday at the border of Barangays Dungguan and Palapas.

The rival clans, both identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, are squabbling for control of strategic areas in Datu Montawal in north of Maguindanao del Sur.

Local officials said a number of Moro families in farmlands at the boundary of Barangays Dungguan and Palapas immediately relocated to areas far from the scenes of the encounters.

The Army’s 602^nd Infantry Brigade and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are together trying to disengage the feuding clans in Montawal with the help of MILF officials in the municipality. 

The hostilities in Montawal was preceded by an encounter between two MILF groups in Sultan sa Barongis in south of Maguindanao del Sur before dawn the same day that left three dead and caused the displacement of innocent villagers.

Major Michael Ameril, chief of the Sultan sa Barongis Municipal Police Station, said Wednesday a group from the MILF’s 118^th Base Command led by Marham Sali attacked Sitio Damabagu in Barangay Barurao at about 3:00 a.m. Tuesday and fired rifles at the houses of their enemies, led by Ustadz Daya.

Daya, an Islamic preacher, is a senior member of the MILF’s 105^th Base Command.

The local police and officials of the Army’s 33^rd Infantry Battalion have confirmed that Sali and a follower were killed in the ensuing firefight that also resulted in a death of one of Daya’s relatives.

Local officials and Muslim religious leaders have sent emissaries to convince the two groups to reposition away from Barangay Barurao to pave the way for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Ameril said Sali's group attacked Daya and his men on mere suspicion that they were responsible for the murder of a relative in a gun attack in the same town early on.

“The group of Sali assumed that it was Daya and his followers who killed his relative,” Ameril said.

Army Major Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the 6^th Infantry Division, said Wednesday he is confident that the MILF leadership can amicably reconcile the two groups. 

Galido said personnel of units under their 601^st Infantry Brigade had been deployed as “buffer troops” to help local officials in Sultan sa Barongis prevent a repeat of Tuesday’s deadly clash in Barangay Barurao.