
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 1, 2012) – Two people were killed following a clash before dawn Sunday between two warring Muslim clans in the southern Philippine province of Basilan, officials said.
Officials said a still undetermined number of people were also wounded in the fighting that erupted in the village of Manaul in Sumisip town.
“Initial report we received showed two civilians killed and an undetermined number of people are also wounded in the fighting between two warring Muslim groups,” Col. Ricardo Visaya, commander of army forces in Basilan, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Visaya did not identify the leaders of the warring clans or what triggered the fighting, but said both groups are locked in a long-time feud. It was not immediately known whether those killed and wounded were followers of the warring clans.
“We have dispatched troops in the area to investigate the fighting,” he said.
Sumisip is a known lair of Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for the spate of attacks on security forces on the troubled province, just several nautical miles from the southern port city of Zamboanga. (Mindanao Examiner)