2 killed, 3 wounded in family feuds in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 1, 2008) – Two persons were killed and three others wounded in separate gun attacks Monday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said.

Two brothers, one of them a policeman, attacked and killed a man inside his own house in the village of Kasanyangan. Two other house occupants were wounded in the attack. Both families are locked in a bitter feud.The assailants escaped after the attack.

One person was also shot and killed and his brother wounded in an attack, blamed by the police to family feud, in the village of Salaan. The suspects in the attacks also escaped.

Clan war or locally known as “rido”, is common in many parts of the southern Philippines. The U.S. Agency for International Development and 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. Summary executions are also common in Zamboanga and hundreds had been killed over the past years. (Mindanao Examiner)

Village Chieftain, Companion Attacked In Basilan Island

BASILAN ISLAND, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 03 Sept) – A village chieftain and his companion were wounded when gunmen attacked them at sea off Basilan island in southern Philippines, a municipal mayor said Monday.

Mayor Tahira Ismael, of Lantawan town, said the attack occurred Friday. She said the attack was connected to a family feud.

“There is an investigation and initial reports suggested the attack was related to a feud between two families,” she told the Mindanao Examiner.

She said the two victims were onboard a motorized boat when gunmen also on boats attacked them off Lantawan town. “This is an isolated case. Peace is slowly returning to our province,” she said.

The military has launched a major operation in Basilan to flush out Abu Sayyaf militants and Moro implicated in the killing of more than two dozen soldiers since July. (Mindanao Examiner)

5 Family Members Slain In Zamboanga Strafing

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 23 Oct) - Unidentified gunmen killed 5 members of farming family and wounded a child in an attack on a remote village in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga Sibugay, officials said.

Officials said the gunmen killed a couple, an old woman and two children in an attack Monday on the village called Bagong Buhay in Alicia town.

"Authorities are investigating the attack. Five family members are dead, including two children. The attack also left one child wounded. Troops are tracking down those responsible in the attack," Capt. Noel Abello, a regional army spokesman, said in an interview by the Mindanao Examiner.

Abello said the gunmen opened fire on the village at around 6 a.m. and escaped after the strafing.

He said no individual or group claimed responsibility for the killings, but the area is a known lair of communist insurgents, blamed in the past by the military and police for the string of attacks against civilians suspected of aiding the government in the campaign against the New People's Army.

Family feud and clan war are also rampant in the province and had been blamed by authorities also for the spate of killings. (Mindanao Examiner)