Gunfights between MILF factions dislocate Pikit residents

NORTH COTABATO --- Firefights since Saturday between rival Moro factions dislocated 2,713 villagers in Pikit town and the number of evacuees can increase without any solution to the conflict yet in sight.The feuding groups are led by Commanders Butuh Mantul and Ricky Husain, both members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).The two commanders are squabbling for control of strategic patches of lands in Pikit, an impoverished town in the first district of North Cotabato.Local officials and the North Cotabato provincial police office on Monday asked the MILF’s ceasefire committee to intervene and reconcile the feuding commanders.Mantul and Husain reportedly lost three followers each in the ensuing skirmishes that drove away thousands of villagers.Followers of both commanders also reportedly looted the abandoned houses of the evacuees as they moved from one area to another.The two groups first traded shots in the outskirt of Barangay Rajahmuda in southwest of Pikit, according to local officials.The police and the local government unit of Pikit have confirmed that the skirmishes dislocated 2,713 individuals, now confined in makeshift relief sites.The municipal social welfare office said they are expecting an increase in the number of evacuees if the intermittent clashes between the two groups will continue in the next three days.