Google map of Pagalungan, Maguindanao province.
COTABATO CITY – Six civilians were hurt when a rifle grenade projectile landed on a house in Pagalungan, Maguindanao province on Sunday afternoon, officials said.
Pagalungan Mayor Salik Mamasabulod said the explosion was an offshoot of a “rido” (family feud) involving Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members in Pagalungan and neighboring Pikit town in North Cotabato.
Mamasabulod said the victims, all residents of Barangay Bagoinged, Pagalungan, were identified as Edris, 48, his wife Zahra, 47, and two children aged 11 and five, all surnamed Lumambas, and their relatives, Michael Kadil, and Nasrudin Biya, 36.
In a radio interview, Mamasabulod also identified the parties in the “rido” triggered by a land dispute as MILF commanders Benjamin Mantul of Barangay Talitay, Pikit town, and Bhuto Sanday in Bagoinged, Pagalungan.
“I have already sought the help of the military and the government-MILF ceasefire panel to settle the problem,” the mayor said.
On Monday morning, the Pagalungan town government has extended aid to the victims now undergoing treatment at a clinic in Pikit, North Cotabato.
The MILF leadership in North Cotabato has already sent emissaries to prevent the MILF “infighting” from escalating. (PNA)
