Gunman kills 10 in clan war in southern Philippines
MANILA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - At least 10 people, most of them teenagers, were killed when a gunman opened fired at a packed billiard hall on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, police said on Monday.
Akmad Mamalinta, the police chief in Mindanao, said the shooting in Balabagan town on Sunday could be part of a long-running clan war in the region.
Fighting among the clans, known locally as "rido", is common in the Muslim communities in the southern Philippines, and analysts say it could pose a threat to a fragile truce between the government and Muslim separatist rebels.
Negotiators of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of four rebel groups, are due to resume peace talks next week in Malaysia to work on a deal to end nearly 40 years of conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people.
In Sunday's incident, eight people were killed in the initial burst of gunfire, two died at a hospital while being treated and five were wounded in the attack, Mamalinta told reporters.
"Based on our initial investigation, the gunman was trying to get back at some people he suspected to have had a hand in the murder of his son last month," said Mamalinta, adding that additional police will be sent to Balabagan.
Studies funded by the Asia Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development have showed that there have been more than 1,200 clan feuds on Mindanao since the 1930s, killing nearly 5,000 people and displacing tens of thousands.
About 60 percent of the feuds, which often last for several generations, remain unresolved, adding to the perception of lawlessness and violence in the Muslim south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.
Abhoud Syed Linnga, an expert on Muslim affairs, said most of the feuds stemmed from political and business rivalries or land disputes, but could be over petty issues as a rough game of basketball.
On Saturday, 20 people were wounded when two gunmen on a motorcycle fired at a crowd coming out from a mosque on southwestern island of Jolo, another incident that police said may be linked with clan wars.
Akmad Mamalinta, the police chief in Mindanao, said the shooting in Balabagan town on Sunday could be part of a long-running clan war in the region.
Fighting among the clans, known locally as "rido", is common in the Muslim communities in the southern Philippines, and analysts say it could pose a threat to a fragile truce between the government and Muslim separatist rebels.
Negotiators of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of four rebel groups, are due to resume peace talks next week in Malaysia to work on a deal to end nearly 40 years of conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people.
In Sunday's incident, eight people were killed in the initial burst of gunfire, two died at a hospital while being treated and five were wounded in the attack, Mamalinta told reporters.
"Based on our initial investigation, the gunman was trying to get back at some people he suspected to have had a hand in the murder of his son last month," said Mamalinta, adding that additional police will be sent to Balabagan.
Studies funded by the Asia Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development have showed that there have been more than 1,200 clan feuds on Mindanao since the 1930s, killing nearly 5,000 people and displacing tens of thousands.
About 60 percent of the feuds, which often last for several generations, remain unresolved, adding to the perception of lawlessness and violence in the Muslim south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.
Abhoud Syed Linnga, an expert on Muslim affairs, said most of the feuds stemmed from political and business rivalries or land disputes, but could be over petty issues as a rough game of basketball.
On Saturday, 20 people were wounded when two gunmen on a motorcycle fired at a crowd coming out from a mosque on southwestern island of Jolo, another incident that police said may be linked with clan wars.
posted by Marko at 1/30/2006 02:03:00 AM
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