Clashes in Cotabato force 280 families to flee homes

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Cotabato —Skirmishes between security forces and communist insurgents on Thursday drove 280 families from their homes, a local official said.

Sporadic firefights erupted early Thursday morning as troops from the Army's 72nd Infantry Battalion clashed with New People's Army guerrillas in remote Barangay Kinarum in the town of Magpet.

Kinarum Barangay Chairman Ruben Lanaja told the police that 280 families of Sitio Kirundong are temporarily  taking refuge in the barangay basketball court.

Lanaja told Magpet Police's Captain Rolando Dillera that NPA insurgents from the 53rd Front Committee fired at the 72nd Infantry Battalion troopers as the soldiers were doing their routine foot patrol.

The ensuing firefight lasted for almost 20 minutes, triggering the evacuation of Sitio Kirundong residents.

“We are now tending the needs of the evacuees,” Chairman Lanaja told Captain Dillera in a phone conversation.

Village officials have sought the assistance to the town’s social welfare office for food packs for the evacuees, Dillera added.

On the other hand, Dillera said there are no casualties on the military's side, citing military report.

Thursday's encounter in Magpet took place two days after members of the 91st Infantry Battalion clashed with same group of insurgents in a remote village in Arakan town on Tuesday, that also caused temporary displacement of residents, who have since returned to their homes a day after the clash. —LBG, GMA News