7 Dead, 7 İnjured İn Southern Philippines Violence

The mayor of a southern Philippine town called for peace and sobriety Monday following the deaths of seven people in what appeared to be an outbreak of violence between Christian and ethnic Moro Muslim residents.



Elvino Balicao Jr., Wao mayor, told MindaNews that those killed by unidentified suspects included two pregnant women and three children, while seven others were wounded.



Balicao said that three children -- aged 15, 13 and 9 – had been separately tending to their water buffalo Friday in Campo Dos village when unidentified men tried to grab one of the animals of the 15-year-old girl.



She reportedly resisted, but later found dead with hacking wounds to different parts of her body. The mayor added that it has yet to be verified whether the victim was sexually abused.



He cited witnesses as saying that as the suspected cattle thieves left, they went after the animals of a 13-year-old boy and hacked him to death. His 9-year-old brother was reportedly able to flee the attackers and tell their parents what had happened.



A witness claimed to have seen a man wearing a balaclava fleeing toward Magampong, a Muslim majority village of the Maranao tribe in Barangay Park -- inhabited predominantly by Christians, who moved to the area from the central Philippines around 50 years ago.



A little past 5 a.m. Saturday morning, Magampong residents were awakened by gunshots fired at three houses. Five people -- including two pregnant women – were killed and seven others wounded, according to Balicao.



The violence caused hundreds of people to evacuate the village out of fear the violence would escalate.



Balicao called for peace in the wake of the killings.



"We don't want to ruin relations anymore. We don't want to go back to square one of this," the mayor said, referring to communal violence in the area in the 1970s.



Balicao said he had contacted the Moro leadership in Wao "so we can talk about this."



On Sunday, police and military forces were deployed to the area to prevent further violence.



Lominog Poloyagan, Wao's environment and natural resources officer, told MindaNews that the mayor had convened an emergency meeting Sunday, and a Council of Elders from both the Moro Muslim and Christian communities was to meet Monday.



Wao is located in southern Lanao del Sur province, which is among the five provinces that will be included in a proposed Muslim autonomous region, but has asked not to be part of the Bangsamoro territory. - Zamboanga