Col. Luisito Querubin, deputy commander of the Philippine Marines 2nd Brigade here, said that reports reaching his command showed that at least seven persons were killed and five others were wounded when armed men on board a vehicle strafed the billiard hall where the victims were playing.
Investigators said the vehicle passed by the billiard hall and one of its passengers saw an "enemy" playing inside.
The vehicle did not stop but after a few minutes went back to the area, pulled over in front of the establishment and, without warning, opened fire at a group playing billiards.
Querubin said the motive could be a "rido" or clan war.
Senior Superintendent Akmad Mamalinta, director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said that based on initial reports by police investigators in Balabagan, a coastal town in the second district of Lanao del Sur, the fatalities were relatives belonging to a clan known to have rido with an equally big family in the nearby municipality of Sultan Gumander.
"We have been receiving persistent reports from informants that the suspects were said to have come from Sultan Gumander town. One of the informants even gave us the plate number of the vehicle," Mamalinta said.
The five men wounded in the shooting frenzy are now confined at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City.
Mamalinta also said the ARMM police has enlisted the help of religious leaders in Balabagan to help convince the relatives of the victims not to retaliate and, instead, allow investigators to prosecute the suspects properly.
Many towns in Lanao del Sur, a component province of ARMM, are locked in clan wars involving big families, some of them led by politicians who keep arsenals of military weapons as status symbol.
In the past few weeks, authorities here have been working to contain at least several clan wars by conducting dialogues and forging amicable settlements.
In the town of Tubaran, Lanao del Sur, a clan war was averted as the suspect in the killing of an elderly man last month was handed over to the Philippine National Police (PNP) when armed followers of the aggrieved party came down to retaliate but were prevented by authorities.
In Maguing town, dialogues are being held between two warring clans following an ambush three weeks ago that killed five people from Maguing town while on board a vehicle passing the highway near the municipality of Tamparan. — With John Unson, Roel Pareño, AP