2 dead, 3 hurt in clash of rival groups in Maguindanao Sur

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June 12, 2026 | 5:26pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two men were killed while three others were wounded in a gunfight involving two rival Moro groups in Barangay Panadtaban in Radjah Buayan town in Maguindanao del Sur on Thursday afternoon, June 11.

Officials of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade separately told reporters on Friday that the incident, which triggered panic among villagers, involved the groups of Utap Bontok and Norodin Utto, former barangay chairman in Panadtaban.

Bontok is also a scion of the Utto clan in Radjah Buayan and Maguindanao del Sur’s nearby Sultan sa Barongis town.

The brief clash between the two groups left two followers of Utto, Jeboy Balutintik and King Utto, dead. Three of Bontok’s men, Prits and Terrie, both surnamed Abubakar, and Albassir Utto, sustained bullet wounds in different parts of their bodies, according to municipal police officials.

Relatives of Bontok, after hearing the gunshots that reverberated through the barangay, proceeded to the area when they were attacked by the group of Utto and traded shots with them, killing Balutintik and King on the spot.

Local officials told reporters that the two groups are locked in squabbles for control of strategic areas in Barangay Panadtaban and in Moro agricultural enclaves around.

The hostility between Utto and Bontok reportedly escalated when they supported rival candidates for municipal posts during the May 12, 2025 elections.

Two of Utto’s close relatives, Datu Norson and Datu Norodin, Jr. died one after another in separate attacks by gunmen in Radjah Buayan early on.