4 dead, 2 hurt in Maguindanao del Norte island gunfights

COTABATO CITY — Four were killed while two others were badly hurt in a spate of clashes between two Moro groups, both armed with assault rifles, in Bongo Island in Maguindanao del Norte province on Wednesday, September 4.

Lt. Col. Erwin Tabora, police chief of Parang, a seaside town in Maguindanao del Norte, told reporters on Thursday, September 5 that the gunfights erupted when gunmen from one of the two groups fired at a family identified with the other in Barangay Tucamaror in Bongo Island.

Bongo Island is about three miles off Parang, whose local government unit has jurisdiction over its seven predominantly Iranun beachfront barangays.

Local officials and personnel of the Parang Municipal Police Station had confirmed to reporters that four were killed in Wednesday's series of clashes in Barangay Tucamaror between the two rival clans.

The encounters also left two villagers wounded, according to senior officials of the local government unit of Parang, whose town center is less than 30 kilometers from this city, the capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The hostilities reportedly caused panic among villagers in Tucamaror, forcing some of them to relocate to neutral grounds for fear of getting trapped in the crossfire.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, on Thursday said that he has directed the officials of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office to help local executives in Parang resolve the conflict amicably to preclude a repeat of the incident.