2 MILF groups trade shots in Maguindanao firefight

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Two feuding groups in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Datu Saudi town in Maguindanao traded shots Thursday, sending hundreds of villagers running for their lives.

Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, spokesman of the Army-led anti-terror Task Force Central, said Friday Army units in Datu Saudi and nearby towns are guarding against the possible spill over of the hostilities to other populated areas nearby.

The gunfights between the two MILF groups erupted just a day after suspected killers-for-hire shot dead Sahabudin Namli, 42, a member of the municipal council in Datu Saudi.

Datu Saudi is a politically-troubled town. It is also a known bastion of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The group operates in the fashion of the Islamic State and enforces a ruthless Taliban-style justice system in areas where it operates.

The mayor of Datu Saudi, Samsudin Dimaukom, was killed in an alleged shootout with anti-narcotics agents in Makilala, North Cotabato in 2017.

The top member of the town’s Sangguniang Bayan, Anwar Sindatok, who garnered most number of votes among candidates for municipal councilor during the 2016 elections, was shot dead by gunmen identified with the MILF several months later.

Some members of one of the two feudal MILF groups that figured in Thursday’s firefight are related to Namli by blood, according to local officials.

Besana said Army intelligence agents are still trying to validate the insinuations by local residents that the showdown between the two MILF groups is apparently related to the murder of Namli.

Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello of the Maguindanao provincial police said Friday investigators are certain the incident was a result of either an old grudge or politics.

“Let us give investigators enough time to finish their investigation on the incident. Corresponding criminal cases shall be filed against the culprits soon,” Tello said.

Senior members of the Datu Saudi municipal peace and order council told reporters Friday the commanders of one of the two groups that figured in running gunfights in Barangay Madia, Datu Saudi on Thursday is identified with the Namli family.

The two gunmen who killed Namli reportedly belongs to the other group, according to sources in the municipality.

Hundreds of residents in Barangay Madia immediately relocated to safer areas following Thursday’s encounter in their villages.

Local officials have called on the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the MILF to intervene.

The committee, comprised of representatives from the police, the military and the MILF, is helping maintain law and order in conflict flashpoint areas.

The government and the MILF are bound by an interim pact — the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities — to cooperate bilaterally in addressing security concerns in southern provinces.