BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 06, 2009) – At least three people were killed Monday in an ambush blamed by the military and police to clan war in the troubled province of Basilan in the southern Philippines.
Police said the gunmen ambushed a cargo truck as it passed a village in the town of Lantawan. At least seven passengers were also injured in the attack.
Regional police chief Bensali Jabarani said he sent additional police forces in the town to hunt down the attackers.
“Sporadic fighting between the protagonists actually began on Sunday and continued until today. We have sent forces in the area to hunt those behind the attack and disarm the protagonists. This is clan war,” he told nthe Mindanao Examiner.
The military also said the fighting was between two warring civilian groups.
“We have reports that the attack was connected to a feud between two civilian groups,” Army First Lt. Steffani Cacho, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command, said in a separate interview.
Clan war or locally known as “rido”, is common in many parts of the southern Philippines. The U.S. Agency for International Development and the think tank, Asia Foundation, have said more than 3,000 people have been killed over the past seven decades in family feuds in the southern Philippines.
Rido can involve disputes among family members or among two or more rival families, pitting neighbors or different ethnic groups against each other. The disputes center on issues of land, money, marriage or political power and involve revenge killing.
The violence increases with each act of retaliation, broadening to include those not directly involved in the dispute, including women and children, according to the Asia Foundation, adding, some feuds lasted for decades. (Mindanao Examiner)
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