Injured	Killed
0	1

Date: 09 July 2010
Source: (philstar.com) Updated July 09, 2010 12:31 PM

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – A three-year-old boy was killed and hundreds of families fled their homes as fighting between soldiers and an armed gang erupted in the southern Philippines, a regional military official said today.

Six other civilians were also injured when some 50 armed men harassed an Army detachment in the boundary of Datu Piang town, in Maguindanao province, and Pikit town, in nearby North Cotabato province, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson for the military’s Eastern Command told Xinhua in a text message.

“The gunmen led by a certain Tata Uy started assaulting government positions at 11:45 a.m., firing mortar and assault rifles. But two rounds from an 81-mm mortar fired by the attackers towards the detachment of the army’s 29th Infantry Battalion in Datu Piang overshot and landed to a civilian community in Pikit causing death and injuries,” Cabangbang’s message read.

He added that the suspects were driven away at around 5:45 p.m.

Local officials said a land dispute between the attackers and another group may have triggered the incident, adding that negotiations are now being conducted.