Philippine clans clash over car sale, killing at least 8

[News_Editor]

Philippine clans clash over car sale, killing at least 8

2011-11-08 07:27:01 GMT+7 (ICT)

ZAMBOANGA, PHILIPPINES (BNO NEWS) -- Clashes between rival clans over the payment of a car in the southern Philippines have left at least eight people killed since Friday, officials told local media on Monday.

The violent clashes broke out on Friday in the town of Sultan Dumalondong, located in the Autonomous Region in Lanao del Sur province, due to a car sales dispute between the Asgar Sangcopan and the Apollo Alim clans on one side and the Arimao Azum clan on the other.

Colonel Daniel Lucero, chief of the Army's 103rd Brigade, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that troops had been deployed to the area in order to bring calm on both sides of the fighting, which has resulted in eight deaths and six injuries since Friday. Both parties agreed to suspend fighting to retrieve the wounded and the dead bodies.

According to Lucero, a clan leader failed to make the payment of a vehicle which had been sold from the other clan, rising tensions between the rival clans which have clashed since 2002.

Violent clashes between families and clans in the southern regions of Philippines, which is mostly a Muslim region, are not uncommon. Fighting often breaks out due to problems such as land, political power and business.

According to the the U.S.-based Asia Foundation, such local feuds have caused the deaths of more than 5,500 people between 1930 and 2005 in the Philippines' southern region. The feuds are locally known as 'rido.'

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