Army deployed as clan war kills 11 in south Philippines

Philippine authorities deployed troops in a southern town on Monday to stop fighting between two clans after 11 people were killed in a weekend attack, an army general said.

Clan wars, locally known as "rido", are common in communities in the south and analysts say they pose a threat to fragile truce between the government and Muslim separatist guerrillas.

On Sunday, gunmen fired at civilian militia escorting local officials inspecting a road project in Mangudadatu town, sparking an hour-long gunbattle.

The army said 11 were killed and four others were wounded in the firefight. Dozens of residents fled to avoid getting caught in the conflict.

"Our objective is to prevent an escalation of violence in the area," Major-General Emmanuel Bautista, head of military operations, told reporters, saying about 100 soldiers, backed by a dozen armoured vehicles, were rushed to the area.

There have been more 1,200 clan feuds in the south since 1930s, killing nearly 5,000 and displacing tens of thousands, according to a study funded by Asia Foundation and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).