ZAMBOANGA CITY: A government militia was wounded in a clash on Monday with Moro rebels in North Cotabato province in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Army Col. Benjamin Hao, commander of the Seventh Infantry Battalion, said that the fighting erupted near the village of Cuyapon in Kabacan town after members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) led by Pax Kadatuan opened fire on patrolling security forces.

Hao said that villagers reported the presence of about 20 gunmen who were harvesting crops in the area.

“We deployed troops as a back up force to policemen who were dispatched to the village to verify the reports and true enough, gunmen attacked our group and a fire fight ensued,” he told The Manila Times.

Hao said that one militia was wounded in the fighting, but there was no immediate report of enemy casualties.

He said that some villagers were locked in a bitter conflict with rebels over a piece of land, which both sides are claiming as theirs. “This all started in a bitter land conflict and up to now they are fighting over a piece of land,” Hao said.

It was unknown whether some of the villagers are members of the country’s largest Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Members of the BIFF, whose militant leader, Ameril Umbra Kato, broke away with the MILF, also clashed with the rebel group last week, killing two and authorities said that the fighting was triggered by a long-running feud aggravated by land conflict in Maguin-danao province.

The MILF, which is fighting for self-determination, recently signed a pact with Manila and both sides agreed to the creation of the Bangsamoro autonomous region that would replace the current five-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.