Google map of Lamitan City, Basilan province.
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Armed members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) clashed in Lamitan City, Basilan province on Tuesday, sending several residents fleeing to safety.
Brigadier Gen. Domingo Gobway, the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade commander, said the clash that transpired in Barangay Parangbasak stemmed from a shooting incident that resulted in the death of an MNLF member.
Gobway said Shein Docol, 20, a resident of Barangay Parangbasak and affiliated with the MNLF, was shot and killed around 7:30 a.m. by armed men who are allegedly affiliated with the MILF.
Gobway said the clash broke out several minutes after the shooting incident as MILF members led by Rajan Abdurahman and MNLF gunmen under Usong Ugong crossed paths at the crime scene.
No one was either killed or wounded during the brief firefight between the group of Abdurahman and Ugong, he added.
Lt. Col. Arlan Delumpines, Lamitan City police chief, said the clash site was only some 300 meters away from the Basilan circumferential road where there are clusters of houses.
“We already have information as to the identities of the suspects,” Delumpines said over local radio.
Troopers from the 18th Infantry Battalion responded to the scene and mediated between the opposing groups with the assistance of Parangbasak chairperson Juddihal Muddalan.
Gobway said the MILF forces withdrew from the site upon coordination with the group’s leadership in Basilan province.
“The situation has been pacified,” he said, adding that peacekeeping forces have been deployed to defuse the tense situation in the village. (PNA)
