6 Tausugs dead in Sulu `rido’ gunfight
TIMRA Reports • 17:45 PM Sat Apr 29, 2023
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By:
John M. Unson
Probers examine the cadaver of one of six persons killed in the Sulu "rido" gunbattle. (From Indanan MPS)
COTABATO CITY - Six from two feuding Tausug clans perished in a gunfight Wednesday in an interior barangay in Indanan town in Sulu.
Major Edwin Catayao Sapa, chief of the Indanan municipal police, on Saturday confirmed the incident that resulted in the death of six persons in a report to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Sapa said the deadly gunfight involved two families squabbling for ownership of a patch of agricultural land in Barangay Bunot in Indanan.
Local officials and barangay leaders have repeatedly tried, but failed to resolve the "rido," or clan war, involving the two rival groups.
Sapa, in his report to the director of PRO-BAR, Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, said the hostilities erupted when members of one of the two families harvested fruits of orchard trees in the contested property, sparking a gunfight.
Sapa confirmed to PRO-BAR that six people, among them a minor, perished as both sides traded shots using assault rifles.
Nobleza said he has directed the Sulu Provincial Police office and the Indanan municipal police force to help local officials resolve the conflict peacefully.
Members of the Sulu multi-sector provincial peace and order council led by Gov. Sakur Tan have assured to help address the problem.