MILF rebels attack rival group; 3 hurt

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas led by a certain Commander Kuyo attacked last Thursday a village controlled by a rival group in Pikit, North Cotabato, wounding three civilian volunteers who tried to intervene and displacing dozens of villagers.

Local officials identified the wounded barangay watchmen as Kanapia Musa and siblings Eric and Kamir Pasandalan.

Citing initial reports, Col. Prudencio Asto, public affairs chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the group of Commander Kuyo, who belongs to the MILF’s 105th Base Command, and the Tayuan clan and its followers are squabbling for control of strategic patches of arable lands in Barangay Langayen, surrounded by MILF enclaves covered by the 1997 ceasefire agreement.